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ESSAYS 



WRITTEN IN THE INTERVALS OF BUSINESS. 



i 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



AN ESSAY 

ON ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 



BY THE AUTHOR- OF 

"FRIENDS in council," "companions of my solitude," 

ETC. ETC. 



LONDON : 
SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE. 

1870. 



,rf? £7 




CONTENTS. 



ESSAYS 
WRITTEN IN THE INTERVALS OF BUSINESS. 

The First Part. 

PAGE 

On Practical Wisdom 3 

Aids to Contentment 7 

On Self-Discipline 15 

On our Judgments of Other Men 21 

On the Exercise of Benevolence 30 

Domestic Rule 37 

Advice 45 

Secrecy 51 

The Second Part. 

On the Education of a Man of Business 59 

On the Transaction of Business 67 

On the Choice and Management of Agents 75 



iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

On the Treatment of Suitors 79 

Interviews S3 

Of Councils, Commissions, and, in General, of 
Bodies of Men called together to Counsel 

or to Direct 91 

Party-Spirit .- 97 



AN ESSAY 
ON ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 

Introduction 107 

On Organization in Daily Life in 

Conversation in a Railway Carriage 181 




ADDRESS TO THE READER. 



I think it is desirable for the reader of this work to 
know that the Essay on War was written some time 
ago, when the peace of Europe had not been dis- 
turbed. That Essay was directed chiefly against the 
growing practice of maintaining large standing armies 
in times of peace, which was then a constant cause of 
apprehensiveness to those who thought at all upon 
the subject. Their fears have been but too well 
justified by the result. It must not, however, be 
imagined that the " friends" who took part in that 
discussion upon war, would be blind to the dangers 
of their country, when war had once begun between 
two great European powers, or that they would 
counsel remissness in a judicious preparation for the 



v FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 

contingency of war. I venture to use the word 
" judicious," because, if much judgment is not used, 
a large part of the expenditure will infallibly be 
wasted. That, however, is a question for men versed 
in the science of war. What I have to bring before 
the reader is the point of view from which the 
" Friends in Council" had to consider the question 
of war, and to recall to his mind a time, not so far 
back, when our alliances were supposed to be firm, 
faithful, and confiding, and when it was not imagined 
that any disturbance was likely to arise in Europe, 
which diplomacy could not easily compose. 

On the termination of the present war the main- 
tenance of large standing armies in times of peace 
will again become the great question for the world. 
These standing armies add somewhat to the cares 
and burdens of every grown-up person throughout 
Europe. Quite putting aside all moral considerations 
(indeed Christianity has long been out of the question, 
and Te Deums are sung where Misereres would be far 
more appropriate), mere household prudence should 
make it one of the first cares of all good citizens to 
diminish these monstrous armies. If mankind were 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. v 

really much advanced in civilisation, there would be 
a federation amongst the sensible and influential 
people of all nations to prevent monarchs from being 
entrusted with these large means for molesting the 
human race. 

Individually, we are much in advance of the in- 
habitants of those barbarous nations, where slaughter 
is the only claim to renown. The savage Indian had 
no other way to power or to any success in life, but 
in procuring the death of his enemies. Hung round 
with scalps, he sought the rewarding smile and sure 
caress of his beloved, and by the same joyous trophies 
he gained the acclamation of the people over whom 
he desired to have sway. We have advanced a little 
beyond that ; but it remains for the European people 
to prevent their monarchs from seeking distinction in 
this barbarous method, and becoming great according 
to the numbers they might proudly show of enemies' 
scalps taken in battle. 

There is no longer any occasion for us Europeans 
to prove our prowess. If we take the five great Powers 
of Europe — Austrians, British, French, Prussians, and 
Russians — each of these nations has shown in a 



vi FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 

hundred fights that they are as brave as men need 
be. They might really repose upon their laurels ; 
and, as the greatest part of them live comparatively 
in a squalid state, they might turn their attention to 
those improvements in the arts of life which are so 
much wanted in every European nation. 

Among the people especially to be pitied, if a 
general war should arise, the British labourer and the 
Russian peasant might claim a high place. Making 
but small account of glory ; not prone in the first 
instance to war, though splendidly tenacious* in 
battle when it does come ; with the greatest hopes 
before them of large improvement in their condition 
—for the British labourer, increasing attention given 
to his welfare at home, and new opportunities of 
emigration ; for the Russian, a prospect of freedom, 
and then the peaceful conquest of his own wide 
lands; — they are of all men those who should be 
most reluctantly condemned to warfare. 



* Frederick the Great, after thoroughly beating the Russian 
army on some occasion, could not get it off the field, because 
it would remain there ; and it was impossible in the time to 
slay so many human beings. 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. yii 

Our statesmen are, I believe, thoroughly anxious to 
save their countrymen from this calamity. It is vain, 
I fear, to hope that the words of any private man will 
ever reach the Autocrat of All the Russias. But if 
he could know how many persons in this country — 
persons whose good opinion no man would be above 
desiring — have watched his career since he came to the 
throne and sympathized with him in his untiring efforts 
to abolish serfdom, he might perhaps feel a sorrow 
like their sorrow, if forced to divert his mind from 
such beneficent enterprises to the commonplace 
despotic amusement of war. 

Lord Stanley, speaking of the present war, said 
justly, " It will be a war wantonly, needlessly, and, 
I will say, wickedly made. It will be a war dictated 
by the ambition of a few men placed in too high a 
position above the masses of mankind to feel that 
respect for human rights or that sympathy for human 
suffering, a due regard for which forms the bonds 
by which the human race is banded together/' * No 
success in arms should make us forget the truth 

* Address to the Electors of King's Lynn. 



viii FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 

contained in these words. There is still some force 
in public opinion as it exists throughout Europe ; 
and, when the fitting time comes, a steady protest 
may yet be made against the inhumanity of those 
who force on difficult questions to the sole arbitra- 
ment of war, and especially against those who per- 
petuate the system of warfare by the maintenance of 
excessive standing armies. 

I make no apology for the length of this address 
to the reader. These thoughts about war are, I 
believe, in most men's minds ; and, if not, they 
ought to be. When Europe is exposed to the risk 
of relapsing into large and continued warfare, and 
when our thoughts are greatly given to the problem 
of how the most men can be killed in the shortest 
possible time (a problem, by the way, which the 
British with their singular mechanical skill will be 
the first to solve when they give their attention to 
it), no person, however obscure, should omit the 
opportunity of doing what he can to restrain the 
waste of blood, of treasure, and of thought, which is 
imminent for the present generation. 

It was with this view that the essay in question 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. ix 

was originally written ; but then an immediate war 
was scarcely in any man's contemplation, and the 
question was, as the question will be again, of the 
hazard and injury to mankind arising from the main- 
tenance of excessive armies in times of peace. 

London, July *]th, 1859. 

P.S. At this Harlequin period of the world, what 
is written on public affairs in any one week may be, 
or at least may seem, obsolete and inapplicable in 
the course of the next. The peace, distantly looked 
forward to in the foregoing Address, has come. The 
chief difficulty, however, contemplated in that Address 
still remains for solution. 

July l$tk, 1859. 



ESSAYS 

WRITTEN IN THE INTERVALS OF BUSINESS. 



THE FIRST PART. 



* 



"And he that knows how little certainty there is in human discourse^, and 
how we know in part \ and prophesie in part, and that of everything whereof 
we know a little, we are ignorant in much more, must either be content with 
such proportion as the things will bear, or as himself can get, or else he must 
never seek to alter or to persuade any man to be of his opinion. For the 
greatest part of discourses that are in the whole world, is nothing but a heap 
of probable inducements, plausibilities, and witty entertainments : and the 
throng of notices is not unlike the accidents of a battel, in which every man 
tells a new tale, something that he saw, mingled with a great many things 
which he saw not ; his eyes and his fear joyning together equally in the 
instructions and the illusion, these make up the stories. 

Jeremy Taylor's Ductor Dtibitantium. 



J 




PART I. 



ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 



PRACTICAL wisdom acts in the mind, as gravi- 
tation does in the material world : combining, 
keeping things in their places, and maintaining a 
mutual dependence amongst the various parts of our 
system. It is for ever reminding us where we are, 
and what we can do, not in fancy, but in real life. It 
does not permit us to wait for dainty duties, pleasant 
to the imagination, but insists upon our doing those 
which are before us. It is always inclined to make 
much of what it possesses : and is not given to ponder 
over those schemes which might have been carried on, 
if what is irrevocable had been other than it is. It 
does not suffer us to waste our energies in regret. In 
journeying with it we go towards the sun, and the 
shadow of our burden falls behind us. 

In bringing anything to completion, the means 



4 ESS A YS. 

which it looks for are not the shortest, nor the 
neatest, nor the best that can be imagined. They 
have, however, this advantage, that they happen to 
be within reach. 

We are liable to make constant mistakes about the 
nature of practical wisdom, until we come to perceive 
that it consists not in any one predominant faculty or 
disposition, but rather in a certain harmony amongst 
all the faculties and affections of the man. Where this 
harmony exists, there are likely to be well-chosen 
ends, and means judiciously adapted. But, as it is, 
we see numerous instances of men who, with great 
abilities, 'accomplish nothing, and we are apt to vary 
our views of practical wisdom according to the par- 
ticular failings of these men. Sometimes we think it 
consists in having a definite purpose, and being con- 
stant to it. But take the case of a deeply selfish 
person : he will be constant enough to his purpose, 
and it will be a definite one. Very likely, too, it may 
not be founded upon unreasonable expectations. The 
object which he has in view may be a small thing; but 
being as close to his eyes as to his heart, there will 
be times when he can see nothing above it, or beyond 
it, or beside it. And so he may fail in practical 
wisdom. 



ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 5 

Sometimes it is supposed that practical wisdom is 
not likely to be found amongst imaginative persons. 
And this is very true, if you mean by " imaginative 
persons " those who have an excess of imagination. 
For in the mind, as in the body, general dwarfishness 
is often accompanied by a disproportionate size of 
some part. The large hands and feet of a dwarf seem 
to have devoured his stature. But if you mean that 
imagination, of itself, is something inconsistent with 
practical wisdom, I think you will find that your 
opinion is not founded on experience. On the con- 
trary, I believe that there have been few men who 
have done great things in the world who have not had 
a large power of imagination. For imagination, if it 
be subject to reason, is its " slave of the lamp." 

It is a common error to suppose that practical 
wisdom is something Epicurean in its nature, which 
makes no difficulties, takes things as they come, is 
desirous of getting rid rather than of completing, and 
which, in short, is never troublesome. And from a 
fancy of this kind, many persons are considered 
speculative merely because they are of a searching 
nature; and are not satisfied with small expedients, 
and such devices as serve to conceal the ills they 
cannot cure. And if to be practical is to do things in 
such a way as to leave a great deal for other people 



6 ESS A VS. 

to undo at some future, and no very distant period — 
then, certainly, these scrutinizing, pains-taking sort of 
persons are not practical. For it is their nature to 
prefer a good open visible rent to a time-serving 
patch. I do not mean to say that they may not 
resort to patching as a means of delay. But they 
will not permit themselves to fancy that they have 
done a thing when they have only hit upon some 
expedient for putting off the doing. 

Bacon says, " In this theatre of man's life, God and 
angels only should be lookers-on ; that contemplation 
and action ought ever to be united, a conjunction 
like unto that of the two highest planets, Saturn the 
planet of rest, and Jupiter the planet of action." It 
is in this conjunction, which seems to Bacon so 
desirable, that practical wisdom delights : and on 
that account it is supposed by some men to have 
a tinge of baseness in it. They do not know that 
practical wisdom is as far from what they term ex- 
pediency, as it is from impracticability itself. They 
see how much of compromise there is in all human 
affairs. At the same time, they do not perceive that 
this compromise, which should be the nice limit 
between wilfulness and a desertion of the light that 
is within us, is the thing of all others which requires 



ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 7 

the diligent exercise of that uprightness which they 
fear to put in peril, and which, they persuade them- 
selves, will be strengthened by inactivity. They 
fancy, too, that high moral resolves and great prin- 
ciples are not for daily use, and that there is no room 
for them in the affairs of this life. This is an extreme 
delusion. For how is the world ever made better? 
not by mean little schemes which some men fondly 
call practical, not by setting one evil thing to counter- 
act another, but by the introduction of those principles 
of action which are looked upon at first as theories, 
but which are at last acknowledged and acted upon as 
common truths. The men who first introduce these 
principles are practical men, though the practices 
which such principles create may not come into 
being in the life-time of their founders. 



AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 

THE first object of this Essay is to suggest some 
antidotes against the manifold ingenuity of 
self-tormenting. 

For instance, how much fretting might be prevented 
by a thorough conviction that there can be no such 



8 ESS A VS. 

thing as unmixed good in this world ! In ignorance 
of this, how many a man, after having made a free 
choice in any matter, contrives to find innumerable 
causes for blaming his judgment ! Blue and green 
having been the only colours put before him, he is 
dissatisfied with himself because he omitted to choose 
pure white. Shenstone has worked out the whole pro- 
cess with fidelity. " We are oftentimes in suspense 
betwixt the choice of different pursuits. We choose 
one at last doubtingly, and with an unconquered 
hankering after the other. We find the scheme, 
which we have chosen, answer our expectations but 
indifferently — most worldly projects will. We, there- 
fore, repent of our choice, and immediately fancy 
happiness in the paths which we decline; and this 
heightens our uneasiness. We might at least escape 
the aggravation of it. It is not improbable we had 
been more unhappy, but extremely probable we had 
not been less so, had we made a different decision." 

A great deal of discomfort arises from over-sensi- 
tiveness about what people may say of you, or your 
actions. This requires to be blunted. Consider 
whether anything that you can do will have much 
connection with what they will say. And besides, it 
may be doubted whether they will say anything at all 



AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 9 

about you. Many unhappy persons seem to imagine 
that they are always in an amphitheatre, with the 
assembled world as spectators ; whereas, all the while, 
they are playing to empty benches. They fancy, too, 
that they form the particular theme of every passer-by. 
If, however, they must listen to imaginary conver- 
sations about themselves, they might, at any rate, defy 
the proverb, and insist upon hearing themselves well 
spoken of. 

Well, but suppose that it is no fancy : and that 
you really are the object of unmerited obloquy. What 
then ? It has been well said, that in that case the 
abuse does not touch you ; that if you are guiltless, 
it ought not to hurt your feelings any more than if it 
were said of another person, with whom you are not 
even acquainted. You may answer that this false 
description of you is often believed in by those whose 
good opinion is of importance to your welfare. That 
certainly is a palpable injury; and the best mode of 
bearing up against it is to endeavour to form some 
just estimate of its nature and extent. Measure it by 
the worldly harm which is done to you. Do not let 
your imagination conjure up all manner of appari- 
tions of scorn, and contempt, and universal hissing. 
It is partly your own fault if the calumny is believed 
in by those who ought to know you, and in whose 



io ESS A YS. 

affections you live. That should be a circle within 
which no poisoned dart can reach you. And for the 
rest, for the injury done you in the world's estimation, 
it is simply a piece of ill-fortune, about which it is 
neither wise nor decorous to make much moaning. 

A little thought will sometimes prevent you from 
being discontented at not meeting with the gratitude 
which you have expected. If you were only to 
measure your expectations of gratitude by the extent 
of benevolence which you have expended, you would 
seldom have occasion to call people ungrateful. But 
many persons are in the habit of giving such a facti- 
tious value to any services which they may render, 
that there is but little chance of their being con- 
tented with what they are likely to get in return; 
which, however, may be quite as much as they 
deserve. 

Besides, it is a common thing for people to expect 
from gratitude what affection alone can give. 

There are many topics which may console you 
when you are displeased at not being as much 
esteemed as you think you ought to be. You may 
begin by observing that people in general will not 
look about for anybody's merits, or admire anything 
which does not come in their way. You may con- 



AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. u 

sider how satirical would be any praise which should 
not be based upon a just appreciation of your merits : 
you may reflect how few of your fellow-creatures can 
have the opportunity of forming a just judgment 
about you : you may then go further, and think 
how few of those few are persons whose judgment 
would influence you deeply in other matters : and 
you may conclude by imagining that such persons 
do estimate you fairly; though perhaps you never 
hear it. 

The heart of man seeks for sympathy, and each 
of us craves a recognition of his talents and his 
labours. But this craving is in danger of becoming 
morbid, unless it be constantly kept in check by calm 
reflection on its vanity, or by dwelling upon the very 
different and far higher motives which should actuate 
us. That man has fallen into a pitiable state of 
moral sickness, in whose eyes the good opinion of 
his fellow-men is the test of merit, and their applause 
the principal reward for exertion. 

A habit of mistrust is the torment of some people. 
It taints their love and their friendship. They take 
up small causes of offence. They expect their friends 
to show the same aspect to them at all times \ which 
is more than human nature can do. They try ex- 



12 ESSAYS. 

periments to ascertain whether they are sufficiently 
loved : they watch narrowly the effects of absence, 
and require their friends to prove to them that the 
intimacy is exactly upon the same footing as it was 
before. Some persons acquire these suspicious ways 
from a natural diffidence in themselves ; for which 
they are often loved the more : and they might find 
ample comfort in that, if they could but believe it. 
With others, these habits arise from a selfishness 
which cannot be satisfied. And their endeavours 
should be to uproot such a disposition, not to 
soothe it. 

Contentment abides with truth. And you will 
generally suffer for wishing to appear other than what 
you are ; whether it be richer, or greater, or more 
learned. The mask soon becomes an instrument of 
torture. 

Fit objects to employ the intervals of life are 
among the greatest aids to contentment that a man 
can possess. The lives of many persons are an 
alternation of the one engrossing pursuit, and a sort 
of listless apathy. They are either grinding, or doing 
nothing. Now to those who are half their lives 
fiercely busy, the remaining half is often torpid with- 



AIDS TO CONTENTMENT, 13 

out quiescence. A man should have some pursuits 
which may be always in his power, and to which he 
may turn gladly in his hours of recreation. 

And if the intellect requires thus to be provided 
with perpetual objects, what must it be with the 
affections ? Depend upon it, the most fatal idleness 
is that of the heart. And the man who feels weary 
of life may be sure that he does not love his fellow- 
creatures as he ought. 

You cannot hope for anything like contentment so 
long as you continue to attach that ridiculous degree 
of importance to the events of this life which so 
many people are inclined to do. Observe the effect 
which it has upon them : they are most uncomfort- 
able if their little projects do not turn out according 
to their fancy — nothing is to be angular to them — 
they regard external things as the only realities ; and 
as they have fixed their abode here, they must have 
it arranged to their mind. In all they undertake, 
they feel the anxiety of a gambler, and not the calm- 
ness of a labouring man. It is, however, the suc- 
cess or failure of their efforts, and not the motives 
for their endeavour, which gives them this concern. 
" It will be all the same a hundred years hence." 
So says the Epicurean as he saunters by. The 



14 ESSA VS. 

Christian exhorts them to extend their hopes and their 
fears to the far future. But they are up to their lips 
in the present, though they taste it none the more 
for that. And so they go on, fretting, and planning, 
and contending ; until an event, about which of all 
their anxieties they have felt the least anxious, sweeps 
them and their cobwebs away from the face of the 
earth. 

I have no intention of putting forward specifics for 
real afflictions, or pretending to teach refined methods 
for avoiding grief. As long, however, as there is 
anything to be done in a matter, the time for grieving 
about it has not come. But when the subject for 
grief is fixed and inevitable, sorrow is to be borne 
like pain. It is only a paroxysm of either that can 
justify us in neglecting the duties which no bereave- 
ment can lessen, and which no sorrow can leave us 
without. And we may remember that sorrow is at 
once the lot, the trial, and the privilege of man. 

Most of the aids to contentment above suggested 
are, comparatively, superficial ones ; and, though they 
may be serviceable, there is much in human nature 
that they cannot touch. Even Pagans were wont to 
look for more potent remedies. They could not 



AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 15 

help seeking for some great idea to rest upon ; some- 
thing to still the throbbings of their souls ; some 
primaeval mystery which should be answerable for 
the miseries of life. Such was their idea of Necessity, 
the source of such systems as the Stoic and the 
Epicurean. Christianity rests upon very different 
foundations. And surely a Christian's reliance on 
divine goodness, and his full belief in another world, 
should console him under serious affliction, and bear 
the severer test of supporting him against that under- 
current of vexations which is not wanting in the 
smoothest life. 



ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 

THERE is always some danger of self-discipline 
leading to a state of self-confidence : and the 
more so, when the motives for it are of a poor and 
worldly character, or the results of it outward only, 
and superficial. But surely when a man has got the 
better of any bad habit or evil disposition, his sensa- 
tions should not be those of exultation only : ought 
they not rather to be akin to the shuddering faintness 
with which he would survey a chasm that he had been 



1 6 ESSAYS. 

guided to avoid, or with which he would recal to mind 
a dubious deadly struggle which had terminated in his 
favour ? The sense of danger is never, perhaps, so 
fully apprehended as when the danger has been over- 
come. 

Self-discipline is grounded on self-knowledge. A 
man may be led to resolve upon some general course 
of self-discipline by a faint glimpse of his moral degra- 
dation : let him not be contented with that small 
insight. His first step in self-discipline should be 
to attempt to have something like an adequate idea of 
the extent of the disorder. The deeper he goes in 
this matter the better : he must try to probe his own 
nature thoroughly. Men often make use of what self- 
knowledge they may possess to frame for themselves 
skilful flattery, or to amuse themselves in fancying 
what such persons as they are would do under various 
imaginary circumstances. For flatteries and for fancies 
of this kind, not much depth of self-knowledge is 
required : but he who wants to understand his own 
nature for the purposes of self-discipline, must strive 
to learn the whole truth about himself, and not shrink 
from telling it to his own soul : — 

1 i To thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. " 



ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 17 

The old courtier Polonius meant this for worldly 
wisdom : but it may be construed much more deeply. 

Imagine the soul, then, thoroughly awake to its 
state of danger, and the whole energies of the man 
devoted to self-improvement. At this point, there 
often arises a habit of introspection which is too 
limited in its nature : we scrutinize each action as if it 
were a thing by itself, independent and self-originat- 
ing 1 and so our scrutiny does less good, perhaps, 
than might be expected from the pain it gives and the 
resolution it requires. Any truthful examination into 
our actions must be good ; but we ought not to be 
satisfied with it, until it becomes both searching and 
progressive. Its aim should be not only to investi- 
gate instances, but to discover principles. Thus, — 
suppose that our conscience upbraids us for any par- 
ticular bad habit : we then regard each instance of it 
with intense self-reproach, and long for an opportunity 
of proving the amendment which seems certain to 
arise from our pangs of regret. The trial comes : and 
sometimes our former remorse is remembered, and 
saves us ; and sometimes it is forgotten, and our 
conduct is as bad as it was before our conscience was 
awakened. Now in such a case we should begin at 
the beginning, and strive to discover where it is that 

2 



1 8 ESSAYS. 

we are wrong in the heart. This is not to be done by 
weighing each particular instance, and observing after 
what interval it occurred, and whether with a little 
more, or a little less, temptation than usual : instead 
of dwelling chiefly on mere circumstances of this 
kind, we should try and get at the substance of the 
thing, so as to ascertain what fundamental precept of 
God is violated by the habit in question. That 
precept we should make our study ; and then there 
is more hope of a permanent amendment. 

Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away 
a mist ; but, by ascending a little, you may often look 
over it altogether. So it is with our moral improve- 
ment : we wrestle fiercely with a vicious habit, which 
would have no hold upon us if we ascended into a , 
higher moral atmosphere. 

As I have heard suggested, it is by adding to our 
good purposes, and nourishing the affections which 
are rightly placed, that we shall best be able to 
combat the bad ones. By adopting such a course you 
will not have yielded to your enemy, but will have 
gone, in all humility, to form new alliances : you will 
then resist an evil habit with the strength which you 
have gained in carrying out a good one. You will 



ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 19 

find, too, that when you set your heart upon the things 
that are worthy of it, the small selfish ends, which 
used to be so dear to it, will appear almost disgusting: 
you will wonder that they could have had such hold 
upon you. 

In the same way, if you extend and deepen your 
sympathies, the prejudices which have hitherto clung 
obstinately to you will fall away, your former unchari- 
tableness will seem absolutely distasteful : you will 
have brought home to it feelings and opinions with 
which it cannot live. 

Man, a creature of twofold nature, body and soul, 
should have both parts of that nature engaged in any 
matter in which he is concerned : spirit and form 
must both enter into it. It is idol-worship to substi- 
tute the form for the spirit : but it is a vain philosophy 
which seeks to dispense with the form. All this applies 
to self-discipline. 

See how most persons love to connect some out- 
ward circumstance with their good resolutions : they 
resolve on commencing the new year with a surrender 
of this bad habit : they will alter their conduct as soon 
as they are at such a place. The mind thus shows 
its feebleness ; but we must not conclude that the 
support it naturally seeks is useless. At the same 



20 ESS A VS. 

time that we are to turn our chief attention to the 
attainment of right principles, we cannot safely neglect 
any assistance which may strengthen us in contending 
against bad habits : far is it from the spirit of true 
humility to look down upon such assistance. Who 
would not be glad to have the ring of Eastern story, 
which should remind the wearer by its change of 
colour of his want of shame ? Still these auxiliaries 
partake of a mechanical nature : we must not expect 
more from them than they can give : they may serve 
as aids to memory ; they may form landmarks, as it 
were, of our progress ; but they cannot, of themselves, 
maintain tha,t progress. 

It is in a similar spirit that we should treat what 
may be called prudential considerations. We may 
listen to the suggestions of prudence, and find them 
an aid to self-discipline \ but we should never rest 
upon them. While we do not fail to make the due 
use of them, we must never forget that they do not go 
to the root of the matter. Prudence may enable a 
man to conquer the world, but not to rule his own 
heart : it may change one evil passion for another ; 
but it is not a thing of potency enough to make a man 
change his nature. 

Prayer is a constant source of invigoration to self- 



Oy SELF-DISCIPLINE. 21 

discipline : not the thoughtless praying, which is a 
thing of custom ; but that which is sincere, intense, 
watchful. Let a man ask himself whether he really 
would have the thing he prays for : let him think, 
while he is praying for a spirit of forgiveness, whether 
even at that moment he is disposed to give up the 
luxury of anger. If not, what a horrible mockery it 
is ! To think that a man can find nothing better to 
do, in the presence of his Creator, than telling off so 
many words : alone with his God, and repeating his 
task like a child : longing to get rid of it, and indiffer- 
ent to its meaning ! 



ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 

IN forming these lightly, we wrong ourselves, and 
those whom we judge. In scattering such 
things abroad, we endow our unjust thoughts with a 
life which we cannot take away, and become false 
witnesses to pervert the judgments of the world in 
general. Who does not feel that to describe with 
fidelity the least portion of the entangled nature that 
is within him would be no easy matter ? And yet the 
same man who feels this, and who, perhaps, would be 
ashamed of talking at hazard about the properties of 



22 ESS A VS. 

a flower, of a weed, of some figure in geometry, will 
put forth his guesses about the character of his 
brother-man, as if he had the fullest authority for all 
that he was saying. 

But perhaps we are not wont to make such rash 
remarks ourselves : we are only pleased to receive 
them with the most obliging credence from the lips of 
any person we may chance to meet with. Such cre- 
dulity is anything but blameless. We cannot think 
too seriously of the danger of taking upon trust these 
off-hand sayings, and of the positive guilt of uttering 
them as if they were our own, or had been assayed by 
our observation. How much we should be ashamed 
if we knew the slight grounds of some of those un- 
charitable judgments to which we lend the influence 
of our name by repeating them ! And even if we 
repeat such things only as we have good reason to 
believe in, we should still be in no hurry to put them 
forward, especially if they are sentences of condemna- 
tion. There is a maxim of this kind which Thomas a 
Kempis, in his chapter "de prudentia in agendis," 
has given with all the force of expression that it merits. 
"Ad hanc etiam pertinet, non quibuslibet hominum 
verbis credere ; nee audita vel credita, mox ad aliorum 
aures eff under e." 



ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN 23 

There are certain things quite upon the surface of a 
man's character : there are certain obvious facts in 
any man's conduct : and there are persons who, being 
very much before the world, offer plenty of materials 
for judging about them. Such circumstances as these 
may fairly induce you to place credence in a general 
opinion, which, however, you have no means of verify- 
ing in any way for yourself: but in no case should you 
suffer yourself to be carried away at once by the cur- 
rent sayings about men's characters and conduct. If 
you do, you are helping to form a mob. Consider 
what these sayings are : how seldom they embody the 
character discussed ; or go far to exhaust the question, 
if it is one of conduct. It is well if they describe a 
part with faithfulness, or give indications from which 
a shrewd and impartial thinker may deduce some true 
conclusions. Again, these sayings may be true in 
themselves, but the prominence given to them may 
lead to very false impressions. Besides, how many 
of them must be formed upon the opinion of a few 
persons, and those, perhaps, forward thinkers. 

You feel that you yourself would be liable to make 
mistakes of all kinds if you had to form an inde- 
pendent judgment in the matter : do not too readily 
suppose that the general opinions you hear are free 
from such mistakes merely because they are made, 



24 ESS A VS. 

or appear to you to be made, by a great many 
people. 

If we come to analyse the various opinions we hear 
of men's character and conduct, there must be many 
which are formed wrongly, though sincerely, either 
from imperfect information, or erroneous reasoning. 
There will be others which are the simple result of 
the prejudices and passions of the persons judging, 
of their humours, and sometimes even of their inge- 
nuity. There will be others grounded on total mis- 
representations which arise from imperfect hearing, or 
from some entire mistake, or from a report being 
made by a person who understood so little of the 
matter that it was not possible for him to convey, with 
anything like accuracy, what he heard about it. Then 
there are the careless things which are said in general 
conversation, but which often have as much apparent 
weight as if they had been well considered. Some- 
times these various causes are combined; and the 
result is, that an opinion of some man's character and 
conduct gets abroad which is formed after a wrong 
method, by prejudiced persons, upon a false state- 
ment of facts, respecting a matter which they cannot 
possibly understand ; and this is then left to be inflated 
by Folly, and blown about by Idleness. 



ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 25 

There is an excellent passage in Wollaston 1 s 
Religion of Nature upon this subject, where he says, 
"The good or bad repute of men depends in a great 
measure upon mean people, who carry their stories 
from family to family, and propagate them very fast : 
like little insects, which lay apace, and the less the 
faster. There are few, very few, who have the oppor- 
tunity and the will and the ability to represent things 
truly. Beside the matters of fact themselves, there 
are many circumstances which, before sentence is 
passed, ought to be known and weighed, and yet 
scarce ever can be known, but to the person himself 
who is concerned. He may have other views, and 
another sense of things, than his judges have : and 
what he understands, what he feels, what he intends, 
may be a secret confined to his own breast. Or per- 
haps the censurer, notwithstanding this kind of men 
talk as if they were infallible, may be mistaken 
himself in his opinion, and judge that to be wrong 
which in truth is right." 

Few people have imagination enough to enter into 
the delusions of others, or indeed to look at the 
actions of any other person with any prejudices but 
their own. Perhaps, however, it would be nearer the 
truth to say that few people are in the habit of em- 
ploying their imagination in the service of charity. 



26 ESS A VS. 

Most persons require its magic aid to gild their 
castles in the air; to conduct them along those 
fancied triumphal processions in which they them- 
selves play so conspicuous a part; to conquer 
enemies for them without battles ; and to make 
them virtuous without effort. This is what they 
want their imagination for : they cannot spare it 
for any little errand of charity. And sometimes 
when men do think charitably, they are afraid to 
speak out, for fear of being considered stupid or 
credulous. 

We have been considering the danger of adopting 
current sayings about men's character and conduct : 
but suppose we consider, in detail, the difficulty of 
forming an original opinion on these matters \ espe- 
cially if we have not a personal knowledge of the 
men of whom we speak. In the first place, we 
seldom know with sufficient exactness the facts 
upon which we judge : and a little thing may make 
a great difference when we come to investigate 
motives. But the report of a transaction sometimes 
represents the real facts no better than the laboured 
variation does the simple air ; which, amidst so many 
shakes and flourishes, might not be recognized even 
by the person who composed it. Then, again, how 



ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN 27 

can we ensure that we rightly interpret those actions 
which we exactly know ? Perhaps one of the first 
motives that we look for is self-interest, when we 
want to explain an action : but we have scarcely 
ever such a knowledge of the nature and fortunes 
of another, as to be able to decide what is his 
interest, much less what it may appear to him to 
be : besides, a man's fancies, his envy, his wilful- 
ness, every day interfere with, and override his 
interests. He will know this himself, and will often 
try to conceal it by inventing motives of self-inte- 
rest to account for his doing what he has a mind 
to do. 

It is well to be thoroughly impressed with a sense 
of the difficulty of judging about others ; still, judge 
we must, and sometimes very hastily : the purposes of 
life require it. We have, however, more and better 
materials, sometimes, than we are aware of: we must 
not imagine that they are always deep-seated and 
recondite : they often lie upon the surface. Indeed, 
the primary character of a man is especially discernible 
in trifles ; for then he acts, as it were, almost uncon- 
sciously. It is upon the method of observing and 
testing these things, that a just knowledge of indi- 
vidual men in great measure depends. You may 



28 ESSA VS. 

learn more of a person even by a little converse with 
him than by a faithful outline of his history. The 
most important of his actions may be anything but the 
most significant of the man : for they are likely to be 
the results of many things besides his nature. To 
understand that, I doubt whether you might not learn 
more from a good portrait of him, than from two or 
three of the most prominent actions of his life. In- 
deed, if men did not express much of their nature in 
their manners, appearance, and general bearing, we 
should be at a sad loss to make up our minds how to 
deal with each other. 

In judging of others, it is important to distinguish 
those parts of the character and intellect which are 
easily discernible from those which require much ob- 
servation. In the intellect, we soon perceive whether 
a man has wit, acuteness, or logical power. It is not 
easy to discover whether he has judgment. And it 
requires some study of the man to ascertain whether 
he has practical wisdom ; which, indeed, is a result of 
high moral, as well as intellectual qualities. 

In the moral nature, we soon detect selfishness, 
egotism, and exaggeration. Carelessness about truth 
is soon found out; you see it in a thousand little 
things. On the other hand, it is very difficult to come 
to a right conclusion about a man's temper, until 



ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 29 

you have seen a great deal of him. Of his tastes, 
some will lie on the surface, others not ; for there is a 
certain reserve about most people in speaking of the 
things they like best. Again, it is always a hard 
matter to understand any man's feelings. Nations 
differ in their modes of expressing feelings, and how 
much more individual mgn ! 

There are certain cases in which we are peculiarly 
liable to err in our judgments of others. Thus, I 
think, we are all disposed to dislike in a manner 
disproportionate to their demerits, those who offend 
us by pretension of any kind. We are apt to fancy 
that they despise us ; whereas, all the while, perhaps, 
they are only courting our admiration. There are 
people who wear the worst part of their characters 
outwards : they offend our vanity ; they rouse our 
fears ; and under these influences we omit to consider 
how often a scornful man is tender-hearted, and an 
assuming man, one who longs to be popular and 
to please. 

Then there are characters of such a different kind 
from our own, that we are without the means of 
measuring and appreciating them. A man who has 
no humour, how difficult for him to understand one 
who has ! 

But of all the errors 'in judging of others, some of 



30 ESS A VS. 

the worst are made in judging of those who are 
nearest to us. They think that we have entirely 
made up our minds about them, and are apt to show 
us that sort of behaviour only which they know we 
expect. Perhaps, too, they fear us, or they are con- 
vinced that we do not and cannot sympathize with 
them. And so we move about in a mist, and talk of 
phantoms as if they were living men, and think that 
we understand those who never interchange any 
discourse with us, but the talk of the market-place ; 
or if they do, it is only as players who are playing a 
part, set down in certain words, to be eked out with 
the stage gestures for each affection, who would deem 
themselves little else than mad if they were to say out 
to us any thing of their own. 



ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 

WITH the most engaging objects of benevolence 
around them, men consume the largest part 
of their existence in the acquisition of money, or of 
knowledge; or in sighing for the opportunities of 
advancement; or in doting over some unavailing 
sorrow. Or, as it often happens, they are outwardly 



ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 31 

engaged in slaving over the forms and follies of the 
world, while their minds are given up to dreams of 
vanity : or to long-drawn reveries, a mere indulgence 
of their fancy. And yet hard by them are groans, 
and horrors, and sufferings of all kinds, which seem to 
penetrate no deeper than their senses. 

Let them think what boundless occupations there 
are before us all ! Consider the masses of human 
beings in our manufacturing towns and crowded cities, 
left to their own devices — the destitute peasantry of 
our sister-land — the horrors of slavery wherever it 
exists — the general aspect of the common people — 
the pervading want of education — the fallacies and 
falsehoods which are left, unchecked, to accomplish 
all the mischief that is in them — the many legal and 
executive reforms not likely to meet with much 
popular impulse, and requiring, on that account, the 
more diligence from those who have any insight into 
such matters. By employing himself upon any one 
of the above subjects, a man is likely to do some 
good. If he only ascertains what has been done, 
and what is doing, in any of these matters, he may be 
of great service. A man of real information becomes 
a centre of opinion, and therefore of action. 

Many a man will say: — "This is all very true: 
there certainly is a great deal of good to be done. 



32 ESSA VS. 

Indeed, one is perplexed what to choose as one's 
point of action ; and still more how to begin upon it" 
To which I would answer : — Is there no one service 
for the great family of man which has yet interested 
you? Is no work of benevolence brought near to 
you by the peculiar circumstances of your life ? If 
there is ; follow it at once. If not; still you must not 
wait for something apposite to occur. Take up any 
subject relating to the welfare of mankind, the first 
that comes to hand : read about it : think about it : 
trace it in the world, and see if it will not come to 
your heart. How listlessly the eye glances over the 
map of a country upon which we have never set foot ! 
On the other hand, with what satisfaction we con- 
template the mere outline only of a land we have 
once travelled over ! Think earnestly upon any 
subject, investigate it sincerely, and you are sure to 
love it. You will not complain again of not knowing 
whither to direct your attention. There have been 
enthusiasts about heraldry. Many have devoted 
themselves to chess. Is the welfare of living, think- 
ing, suffering, eternal creatures, less interesting than 
" argent" and " azure," or than the knight's move, 
and the progress of a pawn ? 

There are many persons, doubtless, who feel the 
wants and miseries of their fellow men tenderly if not 



ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 33 

deeply \ but this feeling is not of the kind to induce 
them to exert themselves out of their own small circle. 
They have little faith in their individual exertions 
doing aught towards a remedy for any of the great 
disorders of the world. If an evil of magnitude forces 
itself upon their attention, they take shelter in a com- 
fortable sort of belief that the course of events, or the 
gradual enlightenment of mankind, or, at any rate, 
something which is too large for them to have any 
concern in, will set it right. In short, they are 
content to remain spectators : or, at best, to wait 
until an occasion shall arrive when their benevolence 
may act at once, with as little preparation of means, 
as if it were something magical. 

But opportunities of doing good, though abundant, 
and obvious enough, are not exactly fitted to our 
hands : we must be alert in preparing ourselves for 
them. Benevolence requires method and activity in 
its exercise. It is by no means the same sort of thing 
as the indolent good humour with which a well-fed 
man, reclining on a sunny bank, looks upon the 
working world around him. 

As to the notion of waiting for the power to do 
good, it is one that we must never listen to. Surely 
the exercise of a man's benevolence is not to depend 
upon his worldly good fortune ! Every man has 

3 



34 ESSAYS. ' 

to-day the power of laying some foundation for doing 
good, if not of doing it. And whoever does not exert 
himself until he has a large power of carrying out his 
good intentions, may be sure that he will not make 
the most of the opportunity when it comes. It is not 
in the heat of action, nor when a man, from his 
position, is likely to be looked up to with some 
reverence, that he should have to begin his search 
for facts or principles. He should then come forth to 
apply results ; not to work them out painfully, and 
perhaps precipitately, before the eyes of the world. 

The worldly-wise may ask: — "Will not these 
benevolent pursuits prevent a man from following 
with sufficient force (what they call) his legitimate 
occupations ? " I do not see why. Surely Providence 
has not made our livelihood such an all-absorbing 
affair, that it does not leave us room or time for our 
benevolence to work in. However, if a man will only 
give up that portion of his thinking time which he 
spends upon vain glory, upon imagining, for instance, 
what other people are thinking about him, he will 
have time and energy enough to pursue a very 
laborious system of benevolence. 

I do not mean to contend that active benevolence 
may not hinder a man's advancement in the world : 



ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 35 

for advancement greatly depends upon a reputation 
for excellence in some one thing of which the world 
perceives that it has present need : and an obvious 
attention to other things, though perhaps not in- 
compatible with the excellence itself, may easily 
prevent a person from obtaining a reputation for it. 
But any deprivation of this kind would be readily 
endured if we only took the view of our social rela- 
tions which Christianity opens to us. We should 
then see that benevolence is not a thing to be taken 
up by chance, and put by at once to make way for 
every employment which savours of self-interest. Be- 
nevolence is the largest part of our business, beginning 
with our home duties, and extending itself to the 
utmost verge of humanity. A vague feeling of kind- 
ness towards our fellow creatures is no state of mind 
to rest in. It is not enough for us to be able to say 
that nothing of human interest is alien to us, and that 
we give our acquiescence, or indeed our transient 
assistance, to any scheme of benevolence that may 
come in our way. No : in promoting the welfare of 
others we must toil ; we must devote to it earnest 
thought, constant care, and zealous endeavour. What 
is more, we must do all this with patience ; and be 
ready, in the same cause, to make an habitual sacrifice 
of our own tastes and wishes. Nothing short of this 



36 'ESSA VS. 

is the visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, and 
clothing the naked, which our creed requires of us. 

Kindness to animals is no unworthy exercise of 
benevolence. We hold that the life of brutes perishes 
with their breath, and that they are never to be 
clothed again with consciousness. The inevitable 
shortness then of their existence should plead for 
them touchingly. The insects on the surface of the 
water, poor ephemeral things, who would needlessly 
abridge their dancing pleasure of to-day? Such 
feelings we should have towards the whole animate 
creation. To those animals, over which we are 
masters for however short a time, we have positive 
duties to perform. This seems too obvious to be 
insisted upon ; but there are persons who act as 
though they thought they could buy the right of ill- 
treating any of God's creatures. 

We should never in any way consent to the ill- 
treatment of animals, because the fear of ridicule, or 
some other fear, prevents our interfering. As to there 
being anything really trifling in any act of humanity, 
however slight, it is moral blindness to suppose so. 
The few moments in the course of each day which a 
man absorbed in some worldly pursuit may carelessly 
expend in kind words or trifling charities to those 



ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 37 

around him, and kindness to an animal is one of 
these, are perhaps, in the sight of Heaven, the only 
time that he has lived to any purpose worthy of 
recording. 



DOMESTIC RULE. 

TACITUS says of Agricola, that "he governed 
his family, which many find to be a harder 
task than to govern a province." And the worst of 
this difficulty is, that its existence is frequently 
unperceived, until it comes to be pressingly felt. 

For, either a man thinks that he must needs under- 
stand those whom he sees daily, and also, perhaps, 
that it is no great matter whether he understand them 
or not, if he is resolved to do his duty by them : or 
he believes that in domestic rule there is much 
license, and that each occasion is to be dealt with 
by some law made at the time, or after : or he 
imagines that any domestic matter which he may 
leave to-day omitted or ill-done can be repaired at 
his leisure, when the concerns of the outer world are 
not so pressing as they are at present. 

But each day brings its own duties, and carries 
them along with it ) and they are as waves broken 



38 ESS A VS. 

on the shore, many like them coming after but none 
ever the same. And amongst all his duties, as there 
are none in which a man acts more by himself and 
can do more harm with legs outcry from the world, 
so there are none requiring more forethought and 
watchfulness than those which arise from his domestic 
relations. Nor can there be a reasonable hope of 
his fulfilling those duties while he is ignorant of 
the feelings, however familiar he may be with the 
countenances, of those around him. 

The extent and power of domestic rule are very 
great : but this is often overlooked by the persons 
who possess it ; and they are rather apt to under- 
rate the influence of their own authority. They can 
hardly imagine how strongly it is felt by others, 
unless they see it expressed in something outward. 
The effects of this mistake are often increased by 
another, which comes into operation when men are 
dealing with their inferiors in rank and education : 
in which case, they are rather apt to fancy that the 
natural sense of propriety, which would put the right 
limit to familiar intercourse, belongs only to the well- 
educated or the well-born. And from either of these 
causes, or both united, they are led, perhaps, to add 
to their authority by a harshness not their own, rather 



DOMESTIC RULE. 39 

than to impair it, as they fancy, by that degree of 
freedom which they must allow to those around them, 
if they would enter into their feelings and understand 
their dispositions. Perhaps there are some persons 
who think that they can manage very well without 
this familiar intercourse : and certainly there is but 
little occasion for knowing much about the nature 
of those whom you intend only to restrain. Coercion, 
however, is but a small part of government. 

We should always be most anxious to avoid pro- 
voking the rebel spirit of the will in those who are 
entrusted to our guidance : we should not attempt to 
tie them up to their duties, like galley-slaves to their 
labour. We should be very careful that, in our 
anxiety to get the outward part of an action per- 
formed to our mind, we do not destroy that germ 
of spontaneousness which could alone give any 
significance to the action. God has allowed free 
will to man, for the choice of good or evil; and is 
it likely that it is left to us to make our fellow- 
creatures virtuous by word of command ? We may 
insist upon a routine of proprieties being performed 
with soldierlike precision \ but there is no drilling of 
men's hearts. 

It is a great thing to maintain the just limits of 



40 ESS A YS. 

domestic authority, and to place it upon its right 
foundation. You cannot make reason conform to 
it. It may be fair to insist upon a certain thing 
being done, but not that others should agree with 
you in saying that it is the best thing that could 
have been done ; for there cannot be a shorter way 
of making them hypocritical. Your submitting the 
matter at all to their judgments may be gratuitous ; 
but if you do so, you must remember that the Courts 
of Reason recognize no difference of persons. Your 
wishes may fairly outweigh their arguments : but this 
of course is foreign to the reasonableness or unreason- 
ableness of the thing itself, considered independently. 

Domestic Rule is founded upon truth and love. 
If it has not both of these, it is nothing better than 
a despotism. 

It requires the perpetual exercise of love in its most 
extended form. You have to learn the dispositions 
of those under you, and to teach them to understand 
yours. In order to do this, you must sympathize with 
them, and convince them of your doing so ; for upon 
your sympathy will often depend their truthfulness. 
Thus, you must persuade a child to place confidence 
in you, if you wish to form an open upright character. 
You cannot terrify it into habits of truth. On the 



DOMESTIC RULE. 41 

contrary, are not its earliest falsehoods caused by 
fear, much oftener than from a wish to obtain any 
of its little ends by deceit ? How often the complaint 
is heard from those in domestic authority, that they 
are not confided in ! But they forget how hard it is 
for an inferior to confide in a superior, and that he 
will scarcely venture to do so without the hope of 
some sympathy on the part of the latter • and the 
more so, as half our confidences are about our follies, 
or what we deem such. 

Every one who has paid the slightest attention to 
this subject knows that domestic rule is built upon 
justice, and therefore upon truth ; but it may not have 
been observed what evils will arise from even a slight 
deviation into conventionality. For instance, there is 
a common expression about " overlooking trifles." 
But what many persons should say, when they use 
this expression, is, — That they affect not to observe 
something, when there is no reason why they should 
not openly recognize it. Thus they contrive to make 
matters of offence out of things which really have no 
harm in them. Or the expression means that they do 
not care to take notice of something which they really 
believe to be wrong ; and as it is not of much present 
annoyance to them, they persuade themselves that it 
is not of much harm to those who practise it. In 



42 ESS A VS. 

either case, it is their duty to look boldly at the 
matter. The greater quantity of truth and distinct- 
ness you can throw into your proceedings, the better. 
Connivance creates uncertainty, and gives an example 
of slyness ; and very often you will find that you 
connive at some practice, merely because you have 
not made up your mind whether it is right or wrong, 
and you wish to spare yourself the trouble of thinking. 
All this is falsehood. 

Whatever you allow in the way of pleasure or of 
liberty, to those under your control, you should do it 
heartily : you should recognize it entirely, encourage 
it, and enter into it. If, on the contrary, you do not 
care for their pleasures, or sympathize with their 
happiness, how can you expect to obtain their con- 
fidence ? And when you tell them that you consult 
their welfare, they look upon it as some abstract idea 
of your own. They will doubt whether you can 
know what is best for them, if they have good reason 
for thinking that you are likely to leave their parti- 
cular views of happiness entirely out of the account. 

We come next to consider some of the various 
means which may be made use of in Domestic Rule. 

Of course it is obvious that his own example must 
be the chief means in any man's. power, by which he 



DOMESTIC RULE. 43 

can illustrate and enforce those duties which he seeks 
to impress upon his household. 

Next to this, praise and blame are among the 
strongest means which he possesses : and they should 
not depend upon his humour. He should not throw 
a bit of praise at his dependants by way of making up 
for a previous display of anger not warranted by the 
occasion. 

Ridicule is in general to be avoided ; not that it 
is inefficient, perhaps, for the present purpose; but 
because it tends to make a poor and world-fearing 
character. It is too strong a remedy; and can 
seldom be applied with such just precision as to 
neutralize the evil aimed at, without destroying, at 
the same time, something that is good. 

Still less should it ever appear that ridicule is 
directed against that which is good in itself, or which 
may be the beginning of goodness. There is, per- 
haps, more gentleness required in dealing with the 
infant virtues, than even with the vices, of those 
under our guidance. We should be very kind to any 
attempt at amendment. An idle sneer, or a look of 
incredulity, has been the death of many a good 
resolve. We should also be very cautious in remind- 
ing those who now would fain be wiser, of their rash 
sayings of evil, of their early and uncharitable judg- 



44 ESS A YS. 

ments of others ; otherwise we run a great risk of 
hardening them in evil. This is especially to be 
guarded against with the young ; for never having felt 
the mutability of all human things, nor having lived 
long enough to discover that his former certainties are 
among the strangest things which a man looks back 
upon in the vista of the past : not perceiving that 
time is told by that pendulum, man, which goes back- 
wards and forwards in its progress ; nor dreaming that 
the way to some opinions may lie through their oppo- 
sites ; they are mightily ashamed of inconsistency, and 
may be made to look upon reparation as a crime. 

The following are some general maxims which may 
be of service to any one in domestic authority. 

The first is to make as few crimes as he can : and 
not to lay down those rules of practice, which, from- a 
careful observation of their consequences, he has ascer- 
tained to be salutary, as if they were so many innate 
truths which all persons alike must at once, and fully, 
comprehend. 

Let him not attempt to regulate other people's 
pleasures by his own tastes. 

In commanding, it will not always be superfluous 
for him to reflect whether the thing commanded is 
possible. 



DOMESTIC RULE. 45 

In punishing, he should not consult his anger • nor 
in remitting punishment, his ease. 

Let him consider whether any part of what he is 
inclined to call disobedience may have resulted from 
an insufficient expression of his own wishes. 

He should be inclined to trust largely. 



ADVICE. 

ADVICE is sure of a hearing when it coincides 
with our previous conclusions, and therefore 
comes in the shape of praise or of encouragement. • It 
is not unwelcome when we derive it for ourselves, by 
applying the moral of some other person's life to our 
own, though the points of resemblance which bring it 
home may be far from flattering, and the advice itself 
far from palatable. We can even endure its being 
addressed to us by another, when it is interwoven with 
regret at some error, not of ours, but of his ; and when 
we see that he throws in a little advice to us, by way 
of introducing, with more grace, a full recital of his 
own misfortunes. 

But in general it is with advice as with taxation : we 
can endure very little of either, if they come to us in 
the direct way. They must not thrust themselves 



46 ESS A YS. 

upon us. We do not understand their knocking at 
our doors; besides, they always choose such incon- 
venient times, and are for ever talking of arrears. 

There is a wide difference between the advice which 
is thrust upon you, and that which you have to seek 
for; the general carelessness of the one, and the 
caution of the other, are to be taken into account. 
In sifting the latter, you must take care to sepa- 
rate the decorous part of it. I mean all that 
which the adviser puts in, because he thinks the 
world would expect it from a person of his character 
and station — all that which was to sound well to a 
third party, of whom, perhaps, the adviser stands 
somewhat in awe. You cannot expect him to neglect 
his own safety. The oracles will Philippize, as long 
as Philip is the master : but still they have an inner 
meaning for Athenian ears. 

It is a disingenuous thing to ask for advice, when 
you mean assistance; and it will be a just punishment 
if you get that which you pretended to want. There 
is a still greater insincerity in affecting to care about 
another's advice, when you lay the circumstances 
before him only for the chance of his sanctioning a 
course which you had previously resolved on. This 
practice is noticed by Rochefoucauld, who has also 



ADVICE. 47 

laid bare the falseness of those givers of advice who 
have hardly heard to the end of your story, before 
they have begun to think how they can advise upon it 
to their own interest, or their own renown. 

It is a maxim of prudence that when you advise a 
man to do something which is for your own interest as 
well as for his, you should put your own motive for 
advising him, full in view, with all the weight that 
belongs to it. If you conceal the interest which you 
have in the matter, and he should afterwards discover 
it, he will be resolutely deaf even to that part of the 
argument which fairly does concern himself. If the 
lame man had endeavoured to persuade his blind friend 
that it was pure charity which induced him to lend the 
use of his eyes, you may be certain that he never 
would have been carried home, though it was the 
other's interest to carry him. 

To get extended views, you should consult with 
persons who differ from you in disposition, circum- 
stances, and modes of thought. At the same time, 
the most practicable advice may often be obtained 
from those who are of a similar nature to yourself, or 
who understand you so thoroughly that they are sure 
to make their advice personal. This advice will con- 



48 ESS A VS. 

lain sympathy ; for as it has been said, a man always 
sympathizes to a certain extent with what he under- 
stands. It will not, perhaps, be the soundest advice 
that can be given in the abstract, but it may be that 
which you can best profit by ; for you may be able to 
act up to it with some consistency. This applies 
more particularly when the advice is wanted for sqme 
matter which is not of a temporary nature, and where 
a course of action will have to be adopted. It is 
observed in The Statesman with much truth, "Nothing 
can be for a man's interest in the long run which is 
not founded on his character." 

For similar reasons, when you have to give advice, 
you should never forget whom you are addressing, and 
what is practicable for him. You should not look 
about for the wisest thing which can be said, but for 
that which your friend has the heart to undertake, and 
the ability to accomplish. You must sometimes feel 
with him, before you can possibly think for him. 
There is more need of keeping this in mind, the 
greater you know the difference to be between your 
friend's nature and your own. Your advice should 
not degenerate into comparisons between what would 
have been your conduct, and what was your friend's. 
You should be able to take the matter up at the point 
at which it is brought to you. It is very well to go 



ADVICE. 49 

back, and to show him what might, or what ought to 
have been done, if it throws any light upon what is to 
be done; or if you have any other good purpose 
in such conversation. But remember that comment, 
however judicious, is not advice ; and that advice 
should always tend to something practicable. 

The advice which we have been just speaking of, is 
of that kind which relates to points of conduct. If 
you want to change a man's principles, you may have 
to take him out of himself, as it were ; to show him 
fully the intense difference between your own views 
and his, and to trace up that difference to its source. 
Your object is not to make him do the best with what 
he has, but to induce him to throw something away 
altogether. 

There are occasions on which a man feels that he 
has so fully made up his mind that hardly anything 
could move him ; and at the same time, he knows 
that he shall meet with much blame from those whose 
good opinion is of value to him, if he acts according 
to that mincj. Let him not think to break his fall by 
asking their advice beforehand. As it is, they will 
be severe upon him for not having consulted them ; 
but they will be outrageous, if after having consulted 
them, he then acts in direct opposition to their 

4 



50 ESS A VS. 

counsel. Besides, they will not be so inclined to 
parade the fact of their not having been consulted, as 
they would, of their having given judicious advice 
which was unhappily neglected. I am not speaking of 
those instances in which a man is bound to consult 
others, but of such as constantly occur, where his 
consulting them is a thing which may be expected, 
but is not due. 

In seeking for a friend to advise you, look for 
uprightness in him, rather than for ingenuity. It 
frequently happens that all you want is moral strength. 
You can discern consequences well enough, but can- 
not make up your mind to bear them. Let your 
Mentor also be a person of nice conscience, for such 
a one is less likely to fall into that error to which 
we are all so liable, of advising our friends to act with 
less forbearance, and with less generosity, than we 
should be inclined to show ourselves, if the case were 
our own. "If I were you " is a phrase often on our 
lips ; but we take good care not to disturb our identity, 
not to quit the disengaged position of a bystander. 
We recommend the course we might pursue if we 
were acting for you in your absence, but such as you 
never ought to undertake in your own behalf. 

Besides being careful for your own sake about the 



SECRECY. 51 

persons whom you go to for advice, you should be 
careful also for theirs. It is an act of selfishness un- 
necessarily to consult those who are likely to feel a 
peculiar difficulty or delicacy in being your advisers, 
and who, perhaps, had better not be informed at all 
about the matter. 



SECRECY. 

FOR once that secrecy is formally imposed upon 
you, it is implied a hundred times by. the con- 
current circumstances. All that your friend says to 
you, as to his friend, is entrusted to you only. Much 
of w T hat a man tells you in the hour of affliction, 
in sudden anger, or in any outpouring of his heart, 
should be sacred. In his craving for sympathy, he 
has spoken to you as to his own soul. 

To repeat what you have heard in social intercourse 
is sometimes a sad treachery; and when it is not 
treacherous, it is often foolish. For you commonly 
relate but a part of what has happened, and even if 
you are able to relate that part with fairness, it is still 
as likely to be misconstrued as a word of many mean- 
ings, in a foreign tongue, without the context. 



52 ESSAYS. 

There are few conversations which do not imply 
some degree of mutual confidence, however slight. 
And in addition to that which is said in confidence, 
there is generally something which is peculiar, though 
not confidential; which is addressed to the present 
company alone, though not confided to their secrecy. 
It is meant for them, or for persons like them, and 
they are expected to understand it rightly. So that 
when a man has no scruple in repeating all that he 
hears to anybody that he meets, he pays but a poor 
compliment to himself; for he seems to take it for 
granted that what was said in his presence, would 
have been said, in the same words, at any time, aloud, 
and in the market-place. In short, that he is the 
average man of mankind ; which I doubt much 
whether any man would like to consider himself. 

On the other hand, there is an habitual and un- 
meaning reserve in some men, which makes secrets 
without any occasion ; and it is the least to say of 
such things that they are needless. Sometimes it pro- 
ceeds from an innate shyness or timidity of disposi- 
tion ; sometimes from a temper naturally suspicious ; 
or it may be the result of having been frequently 
betrayed or oppressed. From whatever cause it 
comes, it is a failing. As cunning is some men's 
strength, so this sort of reserve is some men's pru- 



SECRECY. 53 

dence. The man who does not know when, or how 
much, or to whom to confide, will do well in main- 
taining a Pythagorean silence. It is his best course. 
I would not have him change it on any account ; I 
only wish him not to mistake it for wisdom. 

That happy union of frankness and reserve which 
is to be desired, comes not by studying rules, either 
for candour or for caution. It results chiefly from an 
uprightness of purpose enlightened by a profound and 
delicate care for the feelings of others. This will go 
very far in teaching us what to confide, and what to 
conceal in our own affairs ; what to repeat, and what 
to suppress, in those of other people. The stone in 
which nothing is seen, and the polished metal which 
reflects all things, are both alike hard and insensible. 

When a matter is made public, to proclaim that it 
had ever been confided to your secrecy may be no 
trifling breach of confidence : and it is the only one 
which is then left for you to commit. 

With respect to the kind of people to be trusted, it 
may be observed that grave proud men are very safe 
confidants : and that those persons, who have ever 
had to conduct any business in which secrecy was 



54 £SSA VS. 

essential, are likely to acquire a habit of reserve for all 
occasions. 

On the other hand, it is a question whether a secret 
will escape sooner by means of a vain man or a 
simpleton. There are some people who play with a 
secret until at last it is suggested by their manner to 
some shrewd person who knows a little of the circum- 
stances connected with it. There are others whom it 
is unsafe to trust : not that they are vain, and so wear 
the secret as an ornament ; not that they are foolish, 
and so let it drop by accident; not that they are 
treacherous, and sell it for their own advantage. But 
they are simple-minded people, with whom the world 
has gone smoothly, who would not themselves make 
any mischief of the secret which they disclose, and 
therefore do not see what harm can come of telling it. 

Before you make any confidence, you should con- 
sider whether the thing you wish to confide is of 
weight enough to be a secret. Your small secrets 
require the greatest care. Most persons suppose that 
they have kept them sufficiently when they have been 
silent about them for a certain time ; and this is 
hardly to be wondered at, if there is nothing in their 
nature to remind a person that they were told to him 
as secrets. 



SECRECY, 55 

There is sometimes a good reason for using con- 
cealment even with your dearest friends. It is that 
you may be less liable to be reminded of your 
anxieties when you have resolved to put them aside. 
Few persons have tact enough to perceive when to be 
silent, and when to offer you counsel or condolence. 

You should be careful not to entrust another un- 
necessarily with a secret which it may be a hard 
matter for him to keep, and which may expose him to 
somebody's displeasure, when it is hereafter discovered 
that he was the object of your confidence. Your 
desire for aid, or for sympathy, is not to be indulged 
by dragging other people into your misfortunes. 

There is as much responsibility in imparting your 
own secrets, as in keeping those of your neighbour. 



THE SECOND PART. 



" The wisdom touching negotiation or business hath not been hitherto col- 
lected into writing, to the great derogation of learning, and the professors of 
learning. For from this root springeth chiefly that note or opinion, which by 
us is expressed in adage to this effect, ' that there is no great concurrence 
between learning and wisdom/ For of the three wisdoms which we have set 
down to pertain to civil life, for wisdom of behaviour, it is by learned men 
for the most part despised, as an inferior to virtue, and an enemy to medita- 
tion ; for wisdom of government, they acquit themselves well when they are 
called to it, but that happeneth to few ; but for the wisdom of business, 
wherein man's life is most conversant, there be no books of it, except some 
few scattered advertisements, that have no proportion to the magnitude of 
this subject. For if books were written of this, as the other, I doubt not but 
learned men with mean experience would far excel men of long experience 
without learning, and outshoot them in their own bow." — 

Bacon's Advancement of Learning. 



( 59 ) 



PART II. 



ON THE EDUCATION OF A MAN OF 
BUSINESS. 

THE essential qualities for a man of business are 
of a moral nature : these are to be cultivated 
first. He must learn betimes to love truth. That 
same love of truth will be found a potent charm to 
bear him safely through the world's entanglements — 
I mean safely in the most worldly sense. Besides, 
the love of truth not only makes a man act with 
more simplicity, and therefore with less chance of 
error; but it conduces to the highest intellectual 
development. The following passage in The States- 
man gives the reason : " The correspondencies of 
wisdom and goodness are manifold; and that they 
will accompany each other is to be inferred, not only 
because men's wisdom makes them good, but also 
because their goodness makes them wise. Questions 



60 £SSA VS. 

of right and wrong are a perpetual exercise of the 
faculties of those who are solicitous as to the right 
and wrong of what they do and see ; and a deep 
interest of the heart in these questions carries with it 
a deeper cultivation of the understanding than can 
be easily effected by any other excitement to intel- 
lectual activity." 

What has just been said of the love of truth applies 
also to other moral qualities. Thus, charity en- 
lightens the understanding quite as much as it purifies 
the heart. And indeed knowledge is not more girt 
about with power than goodness is with wisdom. 

The next thing in the training of one who is to 
become a man of business will be for him to form 
principles ; for without these, when thrown on the 
sea of action, he will be without rudder and compass. 
They are the best results of study. Whether it is 
history, or political economy, or ethics, that he is 
studying, these principles are to be the reward of 
his labour. A principle resembles a law in the 
physical world ; though it can seldom have the same 
certainty, as the facts which it has to explain and 
embrace do not admit of being weighed or num- 
bered with the same exactness as material things. 
The principles which our student adopts at first may 



EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 61 

be unsound, may be insufficient, but he must not 
neglect to form some ; and must only nourish a love 
of truth that will not allow him to hold to any, the 
moment that he finds them to be erroneous. 

Much depends upon the temperament of a man 
of business. It should be hopeful, that it may bear 
him up against the faintheartedness, the folly, the 
falsehood, and the numberless discouragements which 
even a prosperous man will have to endure. It 
should also be calm ; for else he may be driven wild 
by any great pressure of business, and lose his time, 
and his head, in rushing from one unfinished thing, 
to begin something else. Now this wished-for con- 
junction of the calm and the hopeful is very rare. 
It is, however, in every man's power to study well 
his own temperament, and to provide against the 
defects in it. 

A habit of thinking for himself is one which may 
be acquired by the solitary student. But the habit 
of deciding for himself, so indispensable to a man of 
business, is not to be gained by study. Decision is 
a thing that cannot be fully exercised until it is 
actually wanted. You cannot play at deciding. You 
must have realities to deal with. 



62 N ESSAYS. 

It is true that the formation of principles, which 
has been spoken of before, requires decision ; but it 
is of that kind which depends upon deliberate judg- 
ment : whereas, the decision which is wanted in the 
world's business must ever be within call, and does 
not judge so much as it foresees and chooses. This 
kind of decision is to be found in those who have 
been thrown early on their own resources, or who 
have been brought up in great freedom. 

It would be difficult to lay down any course of 
study, not technical, that would be peculiarly fitted 
to form a man of business. He should be brought 
up in the habit of reasoning closely : and to ensure 
this, there is hardly anything better for him than the 
study of geometry. 

In any course of study to be laid down for him, 
something like universality should be aimed at, which 
not only makes the mind agile, but gives variety of 
information. Such a system will make him acquainted 
with many modes of thought, with various classes 
of facts, and will enable him to understand men 
better. 

There will be a time in his youth which may, 
perhaps, be well spent in those studies which are of 
a metaphysical nature. In the investigation of some 



EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 63 

of the great questions of philosophy, a breadth and 
a tone may be given to a man's mode of thinking, 
which will afterwards be of signal use to him in the 
business of e very-day life. 

We cannot enter here into a description of the 
technical studies for a man of business ; but I may 
point out that there are works which soften the 
transition from the schools to the world, and which 
are particularly needed in a system of education, 
like our own, consisting of studies for the most part 
remote from real life. These works are such as 
tend to give the student that interest in the common 
things about him which he has scarcely ever been 
called upon to feel. They show how imagination 
and philosophy can be woven into practical wisdom. 
Such are the writings of Bacon. His lucid order, his 
grasp of the subject, the comprehensiveness of his 
views, his knowledge of mankind — the greatest per- 
haps that has ever been distinctly given out by any 
uninspired man, the practical nature of his purposes, 
and his respect for anything of human interest, render 
Bacon's works unrivalled in their fitness to form the 
best men for the conduct of the highest affairs. 

It is not, however, so much the thing studied, as 
the manner of studying it. Our student is not in- 



64 ESS A YS. 

tended to become a learned man, but a man of 
business; not a "full man," but a "ready man." 
He must be taught to arrange and express what he 
knows. For this purpose let him employ himself in 
making digests, arranging and classifying materials, 
writing narratives, and in deciding upon conflicting 
evidence. All these exercises require method. He 
must expect that his early attempts will be clumsy ; 
he begins, perhaps, by dividing his subject in any 
way that occurs to him, with no other view than that 
of treating separate portions of it separately ; he does 
not perceive, at first, what things are of one kind, 
and what of another, and what should be the logical 
order of their following. But from such rude be- 
ginnings, method is developed ; and there is hardly 
any degree of toil for which he would not be com- 
pensated by such a result. He will have a sure 
reward in the clearness of his own views, and in the 
facility of explaining them to others. People bring 
their attention to the man who gives them most 
profit for it \ and this will be one who is a master of 
method. 

Our student should begin soon to cultivate a fluency 
in writing — I do not mean a flow of words, but a habit 
of expressing his thoughts with accuracy, with brevity, 



EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 65 

and with readiness ; which can only be acquired by 
practice early in life. You find persons who, from 
neglect in this part of their education, can express 
themselves briefly and accurately, but only after much 
care and labour. And again, you meet with others 
who cannot express themselves accurately, although 
they have method in their thoughts, and can write 
with readiness ; but they have not been accustomed 
to look to the precise meaning of words : and such 
people are apt to fall into the common error of 
indulging in a great many words, as if it were from a 
sort of hope that some of them might be to the 
purpose. 

In the style of a man of business nothing is to be 
aimed at but plainness and precision. For instance, 
a close repetition of the same word for the same thing 
need not be avoided. The aversion to such repetitions 
may be carried too far in all kinds of writing. In 
literature, however, you are seldom brought to account 
for misleading people ; but in business you may soon 
be called upon to pay the penalty for having shunned 
the word which would exactly have expressed your 
meaning. 

I cannot conclude this essay better than by en- 
deavouring to describe what sort of person a consum- 
mate man of business should be. 

5 



66 ESS A YS. 

He should be able to fix his attention on details, 
and be ready to give every kind of argument a hearing. 
This will not encumber him, for he must have been 
practised beforehand in the exercise of his intellect, 
and be strong in principles. One man collects mate- 
rials together, and there they remain, a shapeless 
heap; another, possessed of method, can arrange 
what he has collected ; but such a man as I would 
describe, by the aid of principles, goes farther, and 
builds with his materials. 

He should be courageous. The courage, however, 
required in civil affairs, is that which belongs rather 
to the able commander than the mere soldier. But 
any kind of courage is serviceable. 

Besides a stout heart, he should have a patient' 
temperament, and a vigorous but disciplined imagina- 
tion i and then he will plan boldly, and with large 
extent of view, execute calmly, and not be stretching 
out his hand for things not yet within his grasp. He 
will let opportunities grow before his eyes, until they 
are ripe to be seized. He will think steadily over 
possible failure, in order to provide a remedy or a 
retreat. There will be the strength of repose about 
him. 

He must have a deep sense of responsibility. He 
must believe in the power and vitality of truth, and 



EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 67 

in all he does or says, should be anxious to express as 
much truth as possible. 

His feeling of responsibility and love of truth will 
almost inevitably endow him with diligence, accuracy, 
and discreetness, — those common-place requisites for 
a good man of business, without which all the rest 
may never come to be " translated into action." 



ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 

THIS subject may be divided into two parts. 
1. Dealing with others about business. 2. 
Dealing with the business itself. 

1. Dealing with others about Business, 

The first part of the general subject embraces the 
choice and management of agents, the transaction of 
business by means of interviews, the choice of col- 
leagues and the use of councils. Each of these topics 
will be treated separately. There remain, however, 
certain general rules with respect to our dealings with 
others which may naturally find a place here. 

In your converse with the world avoid anything 
like a juggling dexterity. The proper use of dexterity 



68 ESS A VS. 

is to prevent your being circumvented by the cunning 
of others. It should not be aggressive. 

Concessions and compromises form a large and a 
very important part of our dealings with others. Con- 
cessions must generally be looked upon as distinct 
defeats ; and you must expect no gratitude for them. 
I am far from saying that it may not be wise to make 
concessions, but this will be done more wisely when 
you understand the nature of them. 

In making compromises, do not think to gain 
much by concealing your views and wishes. You are 
as likely to suffer from its not being known how to 
please or satisfy you, as from any attempt to over- 
reach you, grounded on a knowledge of your wishes. 

Delay is in some instances to be adopted advisedly. 
It sometimes brings a person to reason when nothing 
else could ; w T hen his mind is so occupied with one 
idea, that he completely over-estimates its relative 
importance. He can hardly be brought to look at 
the subject calmly by any force of reasoning. For 
this disease time is the only doctor. 

A good man of business is very watchful, over both 
himself and others, to prevent things from being 



ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 69 

carried against his sense of right in moments of lassi- 
tude. After a matter has been much discussed, 
whether to the purpose or not, there comes a time 
when all parties are anxious that it should be settled ; 
and there is then some danger of the handiest way of 
getting rid of the matter being taken for the best. 

It is often worth while to bestow much pains in 
gaining over foolish people to your way of thinking : 
and you should do it soon. Your reasons will always 
have some weight with the wise. But if at first you 
omit to put your arguments before the foolish, they 
will form their prejudices; and a fool is often very 
consistent, and very fond of repetition. He will be 
repeating his folly in season and out of season, until 
at last it has a hearing ; and it is hard if it does not 
sometimes chime in with external circumstances. 

A man of business should take care to consult 
occasionally with persons of a nature quite different 
from his own. To very few are given all the qualities 
requisite to form a good man of business. Thus a 
man may have the sternness and the fixedness of 
purpose so necessary in the conduct of affairs, yet 
these qualities prevent him, perhaps, from entering 
into the characters of those about him. He is likely 



70 ESS A VS. 

to want tact. He will be unprepared for the extent of 
versatility and vacillation in other men. But these 
defects and oversights might be remedied by consult- 
ing with persons whom he knows to be possessed of 
the qualities supplementary to his own. Men of much 
depth of mind can bear a great deal of counsel ; for 
it does not easily deface their own character, nor 
render their purposes indistinct. 

2. Dealing with the Business itself. 

The first thing to be considered in this division of 
the subject is the collection and arrangement of your 
materials. Do not fail to begin with the earliest 
history of the matter under consideration. Be careful 
not to give way to any particular theory, while you 
are merely collecting materials, lest it should influence 
you in the choice of them. You must work for your- 
self; for what you reject may be as important for you 
to have seen and thought about, as what you adopt : 
besides, it gives you a command of the subject, and a 
comparative fearlessness of surprise, which you will 
never have, if you rely on other people for your 
materials. In some cases, however, you may save 
time by not labouring much, beforehand, at parts of 
the subject which are nearly sure to be worked out in 
discussion. 



ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 71 

When you have collected and arranged your in- 
formation, there comes the task of deciding upon it. 
To make this less difficult, you must use method, and 
practise economy in thinking. You must not weary 
yourself by considering the same thing in the same 
way 1 just oscillating over it, as it were \ seldom 
making much progress, and not marking the little 
that you have made. You must not lose your atten- 
tion in reveries about the subject; but must bring 
yourself to the point by such questions as these, What 
has been done? What is the state of the case at 
present? What can be done next? What ought to 
be done ? Express in writing the answers to your 
questions. Use the pen — there is no magic in it, but 
it prevents the mind from staggering about. It forces 
you to methodize your thoughts. It enables you to 
survey the matter with a less tired eye. Whereas in 
thinking vaguely, you not only lose time, but you 
acquire a familiarity with the husk of the subject, 
which is absolutely injurious. Your apprehension 
becomes dull ; you establish associations of ideas 
which occur again and again to distract your atten- 
tion ; and you become more tired than if you had 
really been employed in mastering the subject. 

When you have arrived at your decision, you have 
to consider how you shall convey it. In doing this, 



72 ESS A VS. 

be sure that you very rarely, if ever, say anything 
which is not immediately relevant to the • subject. 
Beware of indulging in maxims, in abstract propo- 
sitions, or in anything of that kind. Let your subject 
fill the whole of what you say. Human affairs are so 
wide, subtle, and complicated, that the most sagacious 
man had better content himself with pronouncing upon 
those points alone upon which his decision is called for. 
It will often be a nice question whether or not to 
state the motives for your decisions. Much will 
depend upon the nature of the subject, upon the 
party whom you have to address, and upon your 
power of speaking out the whole truth. When you 
can give all your motives, it will in most cases be just 
to others, and eventually good for yourself, to do so. 
If you can only state some of them, then you must 
consider whether they are likely to mislead, or whether 
they tend to the full truth. And for your own sake 
there is this to be considered in giving only a part of 
your reasons : that those which you give are generally 
taken to be the whole, or at any rate, the best that 
you have. And, hereafter, you may find yourself 
precluded from using an argument which turns out to 
be a very sound one, which had great weight with 
you, but which you were at the time unwilling, or did 
not think it necessary, to put forward. 



ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 73 

When you have to communicate the motives for an 
unfavourable decision, you will naturally study how to 
convey them so as to give least pain, and to ensure 
least discussion. These are not unworthy objects ; 
but they are immediate ones, and therefore likely to 
have their full weight with you. Beware that your 
anxiety to attain them does not carry you into an 
implied falsehood ; for, to say the least of it, evil is 
latent in that. Each day's converse with the world 
ought to confirm us in the maxim that a bold but not 
unkind sincerity should be the groundwork of all our 
dealings. 

It will often be necessary to make a general state- 
ment respecting the history of some business. It 
should be lucid, yet not overburdened with details. 
It must have method not merely running through it, 
but visible upon it — it must have method in its form. 
You must build it up, beginning at the beginning, 
giving each part its due weight, and not hurrying 
over those steps which happen to be peculiarly 
familiar to yourself. You must thoroughly enter 
into the ignorance of others, and so avoid forestalling 
your conclusions. The best teachers are those who 
can seem to forget what they know full well ; who 
work out results, which have become axioms in their 



74 ESS A VS. 

minds, with all the interest of a beginner, and with 
footsteps no longer than his. 

It is a good practice to draw up, and put on record, 
an abstract of the reasons upon which you have come 
to a decision on any complicated subject; so that if it 
is referred to, there is but little labour in making 
yourself master of it again. Of course this practice 
will be more or less necessary, according as your 
decision has been conveyed with a reserved or with a 
full statement of the reasons upon which it was 
grounded. 

Of all the correspondence you receive, a concise 
record should be kept ; which should also contain a 
note of what was done upon any letter, and of where 
it was sent to, or put away. Documents relating to 
the same subject should be carefully brought together. 
You should endeavour to establish such a system of 
arranging your papers, as may ensure their being 
readily referred to, and yet not require too much time 
and attention to be carried into daily practice. Fac- 
similes should be kept of all the letters which you 
send out. 

These seem little things : and so they are, unless 
you neglect them. 



( 75 ) 



ON THE CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT 
OF AGENTS. 

THE choice of agents is a difficult matter, but 
any labour that you may bestow upon it is 
likely to be well repaid : for you have to choose 
persons for whose faults you are to be punished; 
to whom you are to be the whipping-boy. 

In the choice of an agent, it is not sufficient to 
ascertain what a man knows, or to make a catalogue 
of his qualities ; but you have to find out how he will 
perform a particular service. You may be right in 
concluding that such an office requires certain 
qualities, and you may discern that such a man 
possesses most of them ; and in the absence of any 
means of making a closer trial, you may have done 
the best that you could do. But some deficiency, or 
some untoward combination of these qualities, may 
unfit him for the office. Hence the value of any 
opportunity, however slight, of observing his conduct 
in matters similar to those for which you want him. 

Our previous knowledge of men will sometimes 
mislead us entirely, even when we apply it to 
circumstances but little different, as we think, from 



76 ESS A VS. 

those in which" we have actually observed their 
behaviour. ~Px)x instance, you might naturally imagine 
that a man who shows an irritable temper in his con- 
versation, is likely to show a similar temper through- 
out the conduct of his business. But experience does 
not confirm this ; for you will often find that men who 
are intemperate in speech are cautious in writing. 

The best agents are, in general, to be found 
amongst those persons who have a strong sense of 
responsibility. Under this feeling a man will be 
likely to grudge no pains ; he will pay attention to 
minute things ; and what is of much importance, he 
will prefer being considered ever so stupid, rather 
than pretend to understand his orders before he 
does so. 

You should behave to your subordinate agents in 
such a manner, that they should not be afraid to be 
frank with you. They should be able to comment 
freely upon your directions, and may thus become 
your best counsellors. For those who are entrusted 
with the execution of any work, are likely to see 
things which have been overlooked by the person 
who designed it, however sagacious he may be. 

You must not interfere unnecessarily with your 
agents, as it gives them the habit of leaning too 



CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT OF AGENTS. 77 

much upon you. Sir Walter Scott says of Canning, 
" I fear he works himself too hard, under the great 
error of trying to do too much with his own hand, 
and to see everything with his own eyes. Whereas 
the greatest general and the first statesman must, in 
many cases, be content to use the eyes and fingers 
of others, and hold themselves contented with the 
exercise of the greatest care in the choice of imple- 
ments." Most men of vigorous minds and nice per- 
ceptions will be apt to interfere too much \ but it 
should, always be one of the chief objects of a person 
in authority to train up those around him to do with- 
out him. He should try to give them some self- 
reliance. It should be his aim to create a standard 
as to the way in which things ought to be done — not 
to do them all himself. That standard is likely to be 
maintained for some time, in case of his absence, 
illness, or death; and it will be applied daily to 
many things that must be done without a careful 
inspection on his part, even when he is in full vigour. 

With respect to those agents whom you employ to 
represent you, your inclination should be to treat 
them with hearty confidence. In justice to them, 
as well as for your own sake, the limits which you 
lay down for their guidance, should be precise. 



78 ESS A VS. 

Within those limits you should allow them a large 
discretionary power. You must be careful not to 
blame your agent for departing from your orders, 
when in fact the discrepancy which you notice is 
nothing more than the usual difference in the ways 
in which different men set about the same object, 
even when they employ similar means for its accom- 
plishment. For a difference of this kind you should 
have been prepared. But if you are in haste to 
blame your representative, your captiousness may 
throw a great burden upon him unnecessarily. It 
is not the success of the undertaking only that he 
will thenceforward be intent upon : he will be anxious 
that each step should be done exactly after your 
fancy. And this may embarrass him, render him 
indecisive, and lead to his failing altogether. 

The surest way to make agents do their work is to 
show them that their efforts are appreciated with 
nicety. For this purpose, you should not only be 
very careful in your promotions and rewards ; but 
in your daily dealings with them, you should beware 
of making slight or hap-hazard criticisms on any of 
their proceedings. Your praise should not only be 
right in the substance, but put upon the right founda- 
tion : it should point to their most strenuous and 



CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT OF AGENTS. 79 

most judicious exertion. I do not mean that it 
should always be given at the time of those exertions 
being made, but it should show that they had not 
passed by unnoticed. 



ON THE TREATMENT OF SUITORS. 

THE maxim, " Pars beneficii est, quod petitur 
si bene neges," is misinterpreted by many 
people. They construe "bene" kindly, which is 
right : but they are inclined to fancy that this kind- 
ness consists in courtesy, rather than in explicitness 
and truth. 

You should be very loth to encourage expecta- 
tions in a suitor, which you have not then the power 
of fulfilling, or of putting in a course of fulfilment; 
— for Hope, an architect above rules, can build, in 
reverse, a pyramid upon a point. From a very little 
origin there often arises a wildness of expectation 
which quite astounds you. Like the Fisherman in 
the Arabian Nights, when you see "a genie twice as 
high as the greatest of giants," you may well wonder 
how he could have come out of so small a vessel ; 
but in your case, there will be no chance of per- 



8o ESS A VS. 

suading the monster to ensconce himself again, for 
the purpose of convincing you that such a feat is not 
impossible. 

In addition also to the natural delusions of hope, 
there is sometimes the artifice of pretending to take 
your words for more than they are well known to 
mean. 

There is a deafness peculiar to suitors ; they should 
therefore be answered as much as possible in writing. 
The answers should be expressed in simple terms : 
and all phrases should be avoided which are not 
likely to convey a clear idea to the man who hears 
them for the first time. There are many persons who 
really do not understand forms of writing which may 
have become common to you. When they find that 
courteous expressions mean nothing, they think that 
a wilful deception has been practised upon them. 
And in general, you should consider that people will 
naturally put the largest construction upon every 
ambiguous expression, and every term of courtesy 
which can be made to express anything at all in their 
favour. 

It will often be necessary to see applicants ; and in 
this case you must bear in mind that you have not 
only the delusions of hope and the misinterpretation 



ON THE TREATMENT OF SUITORS. 81 

of language to contend against, but also the imper- 
fection of men's memories. If possible, therefore, do 
not let the interview be the termination of the matter : 
let it lead to something in writing, so that you may 
have an opportunity of recording what you wished to 
express. Avoid a promising manner ; as people will 
be apt to find words for it. Do not resort to evasive 
answers for the purpose only of bringing the interview 
to a close ; nor shrink from giving a distinct denial, 
merely because the person to whom you ought to- 
give it is before you, and you would have to witness 
any pain which it might occasion. Let not that 
balance of justice which Corruption could not alter 
one hair's breadth, be altogether disturbed by Sen- 
sibility. 

To determine in what cases the refusal of a suit 
should be accompanied by reasons, is a matter of 
considerable difficulty. It must depend very much 
on what portion of the truth you are able to bring 
forward. This was mentioned before as a general 
principle in the transaction of business, and it may be 
well to abide by it in answering applications. You 
will naturally endeavour to give somewhat of a de- 
tailed explanation when you are desirous of showing 
respect to the person whom you are addressing ; but 
if the explanation is not a sound or a complete one, it 

6 



82 ESS A VS. 

would be better to see whether the respect could not 
be shown in some other way. 

In many cases, and especially when the suit is a 
mere project of effrontery, it will perhaps be prudent 
to refuse, without entering at all upon the grounds of 
your refusal. In an explanation addressed to the 
applicant, you will be apt to omit the special reasons 
for your refusal, as they are likely to be such as would 
mortify his self-love ; and so you lay yourself open to 
an accusation of unfairness, when he finds, perhaps, 
that you have selected some other person, who came 
as fully within the scope of your general objections 
as he did himself. Therefore, where you are not 
required, and do not like, to give special reasons, it 
may often be the best course simply to refuse, or to 
couch your refusal in impregnable generalities. 

Remember that in giving any reason at all for 
refusing, you lay some foundation for a future request. 

Those who have constantly to deal with suitors are 
in danger of giving way too much to disgust at the 
intrusion, importunity, and egotism, which they meet 
with. As an antidote to this, they should remember 
that the suit which is a matter of business to them, 
and which, perhaps, from its hopelessness, they look 
upon with little interest, seems to the suitor himself a 



ON THE TREATMENT OF SUITORS. 83 

thing of absorbing importance. And they should 
expect a man in distress to be as unreasonable as 
a sick person, and as much occupied by his own 
disorder. 



INTERVIEWS. 

THERE is much that cannot be done without 
interviews. It would often require great 
labour, not only on your part, but also on the part 
of others whom you cannot command, to effect by 
means of writing what may easily be accomplished 
in a single interview. The j)en may be a surer, but 
the tongue is a nicer instrument. In talking, most 
men sooner or later show what is uppermost in their 
minds \ and this gives a peculiar interest to verbal 
communications. Besides, there are looks, and tones, 
and gestures, which form a significant language of their 
own. In short, interviews may be made very useful ; 
and are, in general, somewhat hazardous things : but 
many people look upon them rather as the pastime of 
business than as a part of it requiring great discretion. 

Interviews are perhaps of most value when they 
bring together several conflicting interests or opinions, 



8 4 ESS A VS. 

each of which has thus an opportunity of ascertaining 
the amount and variety of opposition which it must 
expect, and so is worn into moderation. It would 
take a great deal of writing to effect this. 

Interviews are to be resorted to when you wish to 
prevent the other party from pledging himself upon a 
matter which requires much explanation ; where you 
see what will probably be his answer to your first 
proposition, and know that you have a good rejoinder, 
which you would wish him to hear before he commits 
himself by writing upon the subject. In cases of this 
kind, however, there is the similar danger of a man's 
talking himself into obstinacy before he has heard all 
that you have to say. 

Interviews are very serviceable in those matters 
where you would at once be able to come to a deci- 
sion, if you did but kno# the real inclination of the 
other parties concerned : and, in general, you should 
take care occasionally to see those with whom you 
are dealing, if the thing in question is likely to be 
much influenced by their individual peculiarities, and 
you require a knowledge of the men. Now this is the 
case with the greatest part of human affairs. 

You frequently want verbal communication in order 
to encourage the timid, to settle the undecided, and to 
bring on some definite stage in the proceedings. 



INTERVIEWS. 85 

The above are instances in which interviews are to 
be sought for on their own account; but they are 
sometimes necessary, merely because people will not 
be satisfied without them. There are persons who 
can hardly believe that their arguments have been 
attended to, until they have had verbal evidence of 
the fact. They think that they could easily answer 
all your objections, and that they should certainly 
succeed in persuading you, if they had an oppor- 
tunity of discussing the matter orally : and it may 
be of importance to remove this delusion by an 
interview. 

On the other hand interviews are to be avoided, 
when you have reasons which determine your mind, 
but which you cannot give to the other party. If 
you do accede to an interview, you are almost certain 
to be tempted into giving some reasons, and these 
not being the strong ones, will very likely admit of. 
a fair answer • and so, after much shuffling, you will 
be obliged to resort to an appearance of mere wilful- 
ness at last. 

You should also be averse to transacting business 
verbally with very eager, sanguine persons, unless 
you feel that you have sufficient force and readiness 
for it, There are people who do not understand any 



S6 ESS A YS. 

dissent or opposition on your part, unless it is made 
very manifest. They are fully prepossessed by their 
own views, and they go on talking as if you agreed 
with them. Perhaps you feel a delicacy in interrupt- 
ing them, and undeceiving them at once. The time 
for doing so passes by ; and ever afterwards they quote 
you as an authority for all their folly. Or it ends by 
your going away pledged to a course of conduct which 
is anything but what you approve. 

But perhaps there are no interviews less to be 
• sought after than those in which you have to appear 
in connection with one or two other parties who have 
exactly the same interest in the matter as your own, 
and must be supposed to speak your sentiments, but 
with whom you have had little or no previous com- 
munication ; or whose judgment you find that you 
cannot rely upon. In such a case you are continually 
in danger of being compromised by the indiscretion 
of any one of your associates. For you do not like 
to disown one of your own side before the adverse 
party ; or you are afraid of taking all the odium of 
opposition on yourself. You may perhaps be quite 
certain that your indiscreet ally would be as anxious 
as yourself to recall his words if he could perceive 
their consequences : but these are things which you 
cannot explain to him in that company. 



INTERVIEWS. 87 

The men who profit least by interviews are often 
those who are most inclined to resort to them. They 
are irresolute persons, who wish to avoid pledging 
themselves to anything, and so they choose an inter- 
view as the safest course which occurs to them. 
Besides it looks like progress : and makes them, as 
they say, see their way. Such persons, however, are 
very soon entangled in their own words, or they are 
oppressed by the earnest opinions of the people they 
meet. For to conduct an interview in the manner 
which they intend, would require them to have at 
command that courage and decision which they 
never attain, without a long and miserly weighing 
of consequences. 

Indolent persons are very apt to resort to inter- 
views \ for it saves them the trouble of thinking steadily, 
and of expressing themselves with precision, which 
they are called upon to do, if they come to write 
about the subject. Now they certainly may learn 
a great deal in a short time, and with very little 
trouble, by means of an interview : but if they have 
to take up the position of an antagonist, of a judge, 
or indeed any but that of a learner, then it is very 
unsafe to indulge in an interview, without having pre- 
pared themselves for it. 

To conduct an interview successfully, requires not 



88 ESS A YS. 

only information and force of character, but also a 
certain intellectual readiness. People are so apt to 
think that there are but two ways in which a thing 
can terminate. They are ignorant of the number of 
combinations which even a few circumstances will 
admit of. And perhaps a proposal is made which 
they are totally unprepared for, and which they cannot 
deal with, from being unable to apprehend with 
sufficient quickness its main drift and consequences. 

There are cases where the persons meeting are upon 
no terms of equality respecting the interview ; where 
one of them has a great deal to maintain, and the 
other nothing to lose. Such an instance occurs in 
the case of a minister receiving a deputation. He 
has the interests of the public to maintain, and the 
intentions of the Government to keep concealed. He 
has to show that he fully understands the arguments 
laid before him • and all the while to conceal his own 
bias, and to keep himself perfectly free from any 
pledge. Any member of the deputation may utter 
anything that he pleases without much harm coming 
of it ; but every word that the minister says is liable 
to be interpreted against him to the uttermost. There 
are similar occasions in private life, where a man has 
to act upon the defensive, and where the interview 



INTERVIEWS. 89 

may be considered not as a battle, but as a siege. 
A man should then confine himself to few words. 
He should bring forward his strongest arguments only, 
and not state too many of them at a time : for he 
should keep a good force in reserve. Besides it will 
be much more difficult for the other party to mystify 
and pervert a few arguments than a set speech. And 
he will leave them no room for gaining a semblance 
of victory by answering the unimportant parts of his 
statement. 

Again, whatever readiness and knowledge of the 
subject he may possess, he should have somebody by 
him on his side. For he is opposed to numbers, and 
must expect that amongst them there will always be 
some one ready to meet his arguments, if not with 
argument, at any rate with the proper fallacies ; or at 
least that there will be some one stupid enough to 
commence replying without an answer. He should 
therefore have a person who should be able to aid 
him in replying ; and there will be a satisfaction in 
having somebody in the room who is not in a hostile 
position towards him. Besides he will want a witness : 
for he must not imagine that the number of his 
opponents is any safeguard against misrepresentation, 
but rather a cause, in most people, of less attention, 
and less feeling of responsibility. And lastly, the 



90 ESS A VS. 

most precise man in the world, if he speaks much on 
any matter, may be glad to hear what was the impres- 
sion upon another person's mind : in short, to see 
whether he conveyed exactly what he meant to 
convey. 

The best precaution, however, which any man can 
take under these circumstances, is to state in writing 
at the conclusion of the interview, the substance of 
what he apprehends to have been said, and of what 
he intends to do. This would require great readiness 
and the most earnest attention; but in the end, it 
would save very much trouble and misapprehension. 
A similar practice might be adopted in most interviews 
of business, where the subject would warrant such a 
formality. It would not only be good in itself, but 
its influence would be felt throughout the interview ; 
and people would come prepared, and would speak 
with precision, when there was an immediate prospect 
of their statements being recorded. 



( 9i ) 
OF COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, 

AND, IN GENERAL, OF BODIES OF MEN CALLED 
TOGETHER TO COUNSEL OR TO DIRECT. 

SUCH bodies are the fly-wheels and safety-valves 
of the machinery of business. They are some- 
times looked upon as superfluities, but by their means 
the motion is equalised, and a great force is applied 
with little danger. 

They are apt contrivances for obtaining an average 
of opinions, for ensuring freedom from corruption, 
and the reputation of that freedom. On ordinary 
occasions they are more courageous than most indi- 
viduals. They can bear odium better. The world 
seldom looks to personal character as the predomi- 
nating cause of any of their doings, though this is one 
of the first things which occurs to it when the public 
acts of any individual are in question. The very 
indistinctness which belongs to their corporate exist- 
ence adds a certain weight to their decisions. 

Councils are serviceable as affording some means of 
judging how things are likely to be generally received. 
It is seldom that any one person, however capable he 
may be of framing, or of executing a good measure, 
can come to a satisfactory conclusion as to the various 



92 ESSA VS. 

appearances which that measure will present, or can 
be made to present, to others. In some instances he 
may be so little under the influence of the common 
prejudices around him, as not to understand their 
force, and therefore not to perceive how a new thing 
will be received. Now, if he has the opportunity of 
consulting several persons together, he will not only 
have the advantage of their common sense and joint 
information, but he will also have a chance of hearing 
what will be the common nonsense of ordinary men 
upon the subject, and of providing as far as possible 
against it. 

On the other hand, these bodies are much tempted 
by the division of responsibility to sloth ; and there- 
fore to dealing with things superficially and inaccu- 
rately. Another evil is the want of that continuity of 
purpose in their proceedings which is to be found in 
those of an individual. 

As it tends directly to diminish many of the advan- 
tages before mentioned, it is, in general, a wrong thing 
for a member of a Council or Commission to let the 
outer world know that his private opinion is adverse 
to any of the decisions of his colleagues ; or indeed 
to indicate the part, whatever it may have been, 
that he has taken in the transaction of the general 
body. 



OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 93 

The proper number of persons to constitute such 
bodies must vary according to the purpose for which 
they are called together. Such a number as would 
afford any temptation for oratorical display should in 
general be avoided. Another limit, which it may be 
prudent to adopt, is to have only so many members as 
to make it possible in most cases for each to take a 
part in the proceedings. By having a greater number, 
you will not ensure more scrutiny into the business. 
It will still be done by a few ; but with a feeling of less 
responsibility than if they were left to themselves, and 
with the interruptions and inconvenience arising from 
the number of persons present. Besides, the greater 
the number, the more likelihood there is of parties 
being formed in the Council. 

Whether the members are many or few, there should 
be formalities, strictly maintained. This is essential in 
the conduct of business. Otherwise there will be such 
a state of things as that described by Pepys in his 
account of a meeting of the privy council ; which, like 
most of his descriptions, one feels to be true to the 
life. " We to a Committee of the Council to discourse 
concerning pressing of men ; but Lord ! how they 
meet ; never sit down : one comes, now another goes, 
then comes another ; one complaining that nothing is 
done, another swearing that he hath been there these 



94 ESS A YS. 

two hours and nobody come. At last my Lord Annesley 
says, ' I think we must be forced to get the King to 
come to every Committee ; for I do not see that we do 
anything at any time but when he is here.' " 

The great art of making use of councils, commis- 
sions, and such like bodies, is to know what kind of 
matter to put before them, and in what state to present 
it. " There be three parts of business, the prepara- 
tion ; the debate, or examination ; and the perfection ; 
whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle only 
be the work of many, and the first and last the work 
of few."* There is likely to be a great waste of time 
and labour when a thing is brought in all its first 
vagueness to be debated or examined by a number of 
persons. And there will.be much in the " prepara- 
tion " and " perfection " of a matter which will only 
become confused by being submitted to a full as- 
sembly. You might as well think of making love by 
a council or a board. It should therefore be the busi- 
siness of some one, either in the council or subordi- 
nate to it, to bring the matter forward in a distinct 
and definite shape. Otherwise there will be a wilder- 
ness of things said before you arrive at any legitimate 
point of discussion. And hence Bacon adds, " The 
proceeding upon somewhat conceived in writing doth 
* Bacon's Essay on Dispatch, 



OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 95 

for the most part facilitate dispatch : for though it 
should be wholly rejected, yet that negative is more 
pregnant of direction than an indefinite, as ashes are 
more generative than dust." 

In order to bring the responsibility of any act of the 
general body home to the individuals composing it, no 
method seems so good as that of requiring the signa- 
tures of a large proportion of the council or commis- 
sion to the directions given in the matter. Even the 
most careless people have a sort of aversion to signing 
things which they have never considered. This plan 
is better than requiring the signatures of the whole 
body. For it is less likely to degenerate into a mere 
formality : and besides, the other course would give 
any one crotchetty man too great a power of hin- 
drance. 

The responsibility, also, of those persons who settle 
the details of a matter, whether secretaries, or commit- 
tees of the Council, should be clearly attested either by 
their signatures, or by a memorandum, showing what 
part of the business had been entrusted to them. 

As to the kind of men to be especially chosen or 
rejected, it would be trifling to lay down any minute 
rules. You often require a diversity of natures, in 
order that the various modes of acting congenial to 



96 ESS A VS. 

different minds and tempers should have an oppor- 
tunity of being canvassed. 

When a man's faults are those which come to the 
surface in social life, they must be noted as certain 
hindrances to his usefulness as a member of any of 
these bodies. A man may be proud or selfish, and 
yet a good councillor; he maybe secretly ill-tempered, 
and yet a reasonable man in his converse with the 
world, capable of bearing opposition, and an excel- 
lent coadjutor ; but if he is vain, or fond of disputes, 
or dictatorial, you know that his efficiency in a Council 
must to a certain extent be counteracted. 

Those men are the grace and strength of Councils 
who are of that healthful nature which is content to 
take defeat with good humour, and of that practical 
turn of mind which makes them set heartily to work 
upon plans and propositions which have been origi- 
nated in opposition to their judgment : who are not 
anxious to shift responsibility upon others ; and who 
do not allude to their former objections with triumph, 
when those objections come to be borne out by the 
result. In acting with such persons you are at your 
ease. You counsel sincerely and boldly, and not 
with a timorous regard to your own part in the 
matter. 

The men who have method, and, as it were, a 



OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 97 

judicial intellect, are most valuable councillors. With- 
out some such in a Council, a great deal of cleverness 
goes for nothing : as there is nobody to see what has 
been stated and answered, to what their deliberations 
tend, and what progress has been made. Such persons 
can gather the sense of a mixed assembly, and suggest 
some line of action which may honestly meet the 
different views of the various members. They will 
bring back the subject matter when it has all but 
floated away, while the others have been looking for 
sea-weed, or throwing stones at one another on the 
shore. 



PARTY-SPIRIT. 

PARTY-SPIRIT gives a pretext for the exercise 
of such scorn and malice as could not be tole- 
rated, if they did not claim to have their origin in 
fervent wishes for the public welfare. It consumes in 
idle contests that energy which the state has need of. 
By the perpetual interchange of hard names it tends 
to make a people suspicious and uncharitable; or it 
inclines them to think lightly of the kind of offences 
which they hear so often charged against their most 

7 



98 ESS A VS. 

eminent public men ; or it "gives them a habit of 
using epithets and affecting sensations of moral indig- 
nation which bear no proportion to the thing itself, or 
to their own real feelings about the thing ; of taking 
the names of Truth and Virtue in vain." 

Under the influence of party-spirit, a nation some- 
times acts toward^ its dependencies, and in its foreign 
relations, not with the whole force of the country, but 
with a portion of it only, bearing some reference to 
the excess of strength in the ruling party. 

Party-spirit makes people abjure independent think- 
ing. It can leave nothing alone. It must uplift a 
hand in every man's quarrel, as a knight-errant of old, 
but with small sense of chivalry. It forces its odious 
friendship or its unprovoked hostility where neither is 
fitting. Even the wisest require to be constantly on 
their guard against it ; or its insidious prejudices, like 
dirt and insects on the glasses of a telescope, will blur 
the view, and make them see strange monsters where 
there are none. 

Party-spirit incites people to attack with rashness, 
and to defend without sincerity. Violent partisans are 
apt to treat a political opponent in such a manner, 
when they argue with him, as to make the question 
quite personal, as if he had been present, as it were, 
and a chief agent in all the crimes which they attribute 



PARTY-SPIRIT. 99 

to his patfy. Nor does the accused hesitate to take 
the matter upon himself, and, in fancied self-defence, 
to justify things which otherwise he would not hesitate, 
for one moment, to condemn. 

These evils must not be allowed to take shelter 
under the unfounded supposition that party dealings 
are different from any thing else in the world, and that 
they are to be governed by much looser laws than 
those which regulate any other human affairs. It is a 
very dangerous thing to acknowledge two sorts of 
truth, two kinds of charity. 

Is there no harm in never looking further than the 
worst motive that can possibly be imagined for the 
actions of our political adversaries ? Are we to con- 
sider the opposite party as so many Samaritans ; and 
is there nothing that we have ever heard or read, which 
should induce us to abate our Jewish antipathy to 
these brethren of ours who do not worship at our 
temple ? This is an illustration from which political 
bigots cannot escape. Even their own pretensions of 
being always in the right will only bring the instance 
more home to them. The Jews were right about the 
matter in dispute between them and the Samaritans. 
" Salvation is with the Jews." But this is never held 
out to us as any justification of their behaviour. 

LOFC. 



ioo ESSAYS. 

To hear some men talk one would suppose that 
political distinctions were natural distinctions; and 
that they depended upon a man's personal qualities. 
These people seem to think that all the good are 
ranged in a row on one side ; and all the bad on the 
other. Now the utmost that can reasonably be 
alleged is, that there exists in most men a predis- 
position to one or other of the two great parties which 
are to be found in every free country : but this cannot 
be depended upon as the cause which determines men 
in general to attach themselves to a party. 

As it is, some range themselves on one side, and 
some on the other, just as they used to do in their 
school games, and with about as much reflection. A 
large number of persons, in all ranks, hold hereditary 
opinions. There are thousands who make their con- 
victions on all political subjects subservient to their 
feelings as members of a class, and to what they 
believe to be the interests of that class. Then there 
are those who think whatever the little mob in which 
they live pleases to think : and this is the most com- 
fortable way of thinking. Direct self-interest decides 
some men. The merest accidents determine others. 
For instance, how much of a tnan's opinions through 
life will depend upon any strong-minded or earnest 
person that he may have lived with at a time when 



PARTY-SPIRIT. 101 

he was uninformed himself and malleable. Remember, 
too, that it requires but a slight bias to send a man 
into a party ; for let him agree with it only in a few 
points, and he will be set down as belonging to it. 
Then, perhaps, he is called upon to act in some way 
or other politically, and a very little determines a 
man whose thoughts upon the subject altogether 
have been few and vague. Thus a political character 
is impressed upon him without his having had much 
to do in the matter \ but afterwards, many things will 
probably occur to deepen that impression, and to 
make him a decided partizan. 

A true analysis of the composition of parties would 
afford a good lesson of political tolerance. We should 
learn from it what a mixed thing a party is ; that there 
is no single law that will explain its cohesion; and 
still less is there any good ground for insisting that 
the distinctions of party have their origin in moral 
worth or turpitude. 

It is of importance that we should train ourselves 
to make the fitting allowance for the political pre- 
judices of others. 

Pascal asks, " Whence comes it to pass that we 
have so much patience with those who are maimed in 
body, and so little with those who are defective in 
mind ? " And he says, " It is because the cripple 



102 ESSA VS. 

acknowledges that we have the use of our legs ; 
whereas the fool obstinately maintains that we are the 
persons who halt in understanding. Without this 
difference in the case, neither object would move our 
resentment, but both our compassion." We might 
try to overlook this difference, and find it an aid to 
charity to consider that men's prejudices are the same 
kind of things as their personal defects. Whether a 
man is labouring under some degree of physical deaf- 
ness; or under some strong prejudice, which being 
ever by his side, is always sure of the first hearing, and 
produces a sort of numbness to anything else : it 
comes nearly to the same thing as regards the weight 
which he is likely to attach to any of our arguments, 
when adverse to his prejudice. In both cases the 
cause is decided without our being fully heard. 

But at the same time that we have recourse to such 
views as the above, to moderate our impatience of 
other people's prejudices, we should keep a vigilant 
watch on our own. We often forget that we are 
partizans ourselves, and that we are contending with 
partizans. We first give ourselves credit for a judicial 
impartiality in all that concerns public affairs ; and then 
call upon our opponents actually to be as impartial as 
we assert ourselves to be. But few of us, I suspect, 
have any right to take this high ground. Our passions 



PARTY-SPIRIT. 103 

master us : and we know them to be our enemies. 
Our prejudices imprison us : and like madmen, we 
take our jailors for a guard of honour. 

I do not mean to suggest that truth and right are 
always to be found in middle courses ; or that there is 
anything particularly philosophic in concluding that 
" both parties are in the wrong," and " that there is a 
great deal to be said on both sides of the question," 
— phrases which may belong to indolence as well as 
to charity and candour. Let a man have a hearty 
strong opinion, and strive by all fair means to bring 
it into action — if it is, in truth, an opinion, and not a 
thing inhaled like some infectious disorder. 

Many persons persuade themselves that the life and 
well-being of a state are something like their own 
fleeting health and brief prosperity. And hence they 
see portentous things in every subject of political 
dispute. Such fancies add much to the intolerance of 
party-spirit. But the state will bear much killing. 
It has outlived many generations of political prophets 
— and it may survive the present ones. 

Divisions in a state are a necessary consequence of 
freedom ; and the practical question is not to dispense 
with party, but to make the most good of it. The 



104 ESSA VS. 

contest must exist : but it may have something of 
generosity in it. And how is this to be? Not by 
the better kind of men abstaining from any attention 
to politics, or shunning party connections altogether. 
Staying away from a danger which in many instances 
it is their duty to face, would be but a poor way of 
keeping themselves safe. It would be a doubtful 
policy to encourage political indifference as a cure for 
the evils of party-spirit, even if it were a certain cure ; 
but we cannot take this for granted, especially when 
we observe that the vices of party are not always to 
be seen most in those who have the most earnest poli- 
tical feelings. Indeed, the attachment to a party may 
be, and often is, an affection of the most generous 
kind : and it must, I think, be allowed, that even with 
men who do not discern the true end of party, nor 
its limits, party-spirit is often a rude kind of patriotism. 
The question, then, is how to regulate party-spirit. 
Like all other affections, its tendency is to overspread 
the whole character. One who has nothing in his 
soul to resist it, or much that assimilates with its 
worst influences, is carried away by it to evil. But a 
good man will show the earnestness of his attachment 
to his party by his endeavour to elevate its character ; 
and in the utmost heat of party contests, he will try 
to maintain a love of truth, and a regard for the 
charities of life. 



AN ESSAY ON 
ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 



( io7 ) 



INTRODUCTION. 

ON as bright a morn as a poet's marriage-day 
should be, I went with a landscape-painter to 
see the spot which he had chosen for a picture of 
some water-meadows. I wished to compare the 
picture with the original ; and hoped to make some 
criticisms which might prove suggestive to the artist, 
and might not be deemed utterly irrelevant by him. 
I know that, in general, artists are wont to think the 
criticisms of the laity rather weak and superfluous. 

I admired my friend for having chosen as a subject 
for his picture one that might appear at first sight to 
be anything but picturesque. But it would be un- 
picturesque only to the man who had not yet learned 
to look earnestly and lovingly at Nature. The 
luxuriance and beauty of the water-weeds and of the 
bulrushes were wonderful, and would have given work 
to a Pre-RafTaelite for a year. The grass, lapped by 
the bright water in its narrow channels, shone with an 
emerald green. The cattle browsed in rich con- 



108 INTRODUCTION. 

tentment. A delicate, sheeny mist, that quivered in 
the sunlight, was visible here and there in certain 
parts of the meadows. Silvery-looking insects darted 
hither and thither in the water-furrows. Altogether, 
it was a scene which, in its microscopic beauty, 
offered to the naturalist and the artist almost as much 
to comment upon and to delight in, as the vast 
expanse of the heavens, in its sublime and mystic 
aspect, offers to the rapt astronomer pondering on 
their illimitable grandeur. 

The meadows were skirted by a railroad; and I 
was pleased to see that the artist had not shunned the 
railway, and had even had the audacity to introduce a 
train. 

Very soon, however, I am ashamed to say, I wan- 
dered in thought from the picture, and began to 
compare in my mind the skilful workmanship of the 
water-meadows with that of the railway and the train. 
The water-meadows were an old invention, but an 
invention, we must admit, of great merit. Pharaohs 
and Ptolemies, the Copt, the Babylonian, the Indian, 
the Moor, came before me as men who had adopted 
this skilful mode of multiplying the resources of the 
earth ; and, descending the laden stream of time, I 
thought of the vast works of forgotten men who have 
laboured to embank the Thames and make it the 



INTRODUCTION. 109 

serviceable river that it is to a great commercial 
nation. 

I then thought of the immense improvement which 
irrigation admits of, but could not say that it was 
greater than that which might be effected in railway 
travelling. The truth is, that after the adoption of 
some great invention or discovery, there comes a lull 
in the exercise of human thought as applied to it. I 
then began to think that consummate organization is 
almost as rare a thing as high invention. And in 
some respects it is more difficult, because it is more 
involved in the intricacies of human life and conduct. 
Agriculture, government, war, legislation, business, 
pleasure, passed before me in their different forms ; 
and I thought how all-important was organization in 
each of these large branches of human endeavour. 

It was in vain that the careful artist took me here 
and there ; insisted upon my noticing this tint, and 
that shadow ; and fell into ecstasies, to which I made 
but a poor response, about the loveliness of an old 
brick wall and a decayed wooden bridge. I had a 
thought that drove me like a goad ; and I was not 
happy till I could get home and begin my essay on 
organization. I found, as one always does, that any 
large subject stretches out into all subjects; and that 
the difficulty is to reduce it into a presentable shape. 



no INTRODUCTION. 

I studied the men who were said to be skilful in 
organizing ; and the result of all my labour was the 
following essay, a work of slight pretension, but one 
which may serve to elicit other disquisitions worthy 
of a subject so deep, various, and extensive, as organ- 
ization. 



( III ) 



ON ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 

THERE is not an individual in the commu- 
nity whom it does not much concern that 
there should be, amongst his fellow-countrymen, 
persons especially skilled in the art of organization, importance 
Half the labour of the most laborious people in tion 
the world is either totally wasted, or is of such an 
imperfect character as to require much further 
labour ; which evils need not have been if there 
had existed considerable skill in organizing. More- 
over, the destruction of life, the loss of comfort, 
the waste of time, and the withering-up of enjoy- 
ment, which take place from a want of this skill, 
are almost incalculable. 

If we were to seek what would be the perfection 
of organization in human affairs, we must turn to 
Nature, and see how she organizes — noticing how 
the cell contains in itself, potentially, all the powers 
of development towards perfection. And so, to 
a certain extent, might the beginnings of human 
undertakings be fashioned. In fact, that amount 



112 AN ESSAY ON 

of skill and thought should be brought to bear 
upon them which would ensure, in future, the 
opportunity for full development. 

The field for organization is very wide indeed, 

as it embraces most human affairs. . It is difficult 

to give a precise definition of the term. If we 

Definition turn to Dr. Johnson, he tells us that an organiza- 

of Organiza- . . . . 

tion. tion is a ' construction in which the parts are so 

disposed as to be subservient to each other." 
And what we mean by a good organization is some 
construction in which the several parts are so 
deftly disposed, that, with the least expense of 
moral and material force, and in the shortest time, 
a given result is obtained. Take the subject of 
locomotion, for instance. The private individual 
consults his guides, his handbooks and his railway 
lists, and plans his journey. But those who are 
to organize the means of locomotion have to pro- 
vide for thousands of these individual journeys, 
even for millions, and so to arrange the modes 
of transit that all the conflicting interests of private 
individuals shall be duly considered, and the public 
be fully and fairly served. This, in the long run, 
will be found to coincide exactly with the interest 
of the body which has to organize locomotion. 
The foregoing remark leads to a part of the 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 113 

subject which I think has often escaped notice in 
all departments of organization ; namely, that the 
organism requires to be looked at from a point of Organisms 

, . rr r , i«ii • to be looked 

view quite different from that which the organizers at from 
are likely at first to take. They should look at it Wlt out ' 
from the point of view that the persons most con- 
cerned in, or rather acted upon by, the organism 
are likely to take. For instance, in the levying 
and collecting of taxes, the most skilful financier 
will be the one who can throw himself, by imagin- 
ation, into the position of the persons who are 
liable to pay any particular tax. There have been Taxation, 
vexatious imposts in this country, as profitless as 
vexatious, which, I am convinced, would never 
have been proposed, or at least would never have 
been adopted, if statesmen had attained by expe- 
rience, or by imagination, to an adequate notion 
of the inconvenience caused by these imposts. A 
similar assertion might be justly made with respect 
to the arrangements for railway travelling and for 
many other forms of organization. The shrewdest 
railway director, the one who will bring most grist 
to the mill, will be that man who, in considering 
the railway, makes himself most thoroughly one 
of the public, and learns to appreciate all the 
peculiar conveniences which each class travelling 

8 



114 AN ESSAY ON 

i 

Railway by the railway desires, and all the peculiar incon- 

traffic. 

veniences which each class seeks to avoid. As he 
travels up and down the line, if he would only 
observe what it is that people want, and what it is 
that they dislike, he would bring more useful 
knowledge to the Board than could be gained in 
any other way. The same thing applies to mili- 
tary organization. The officer who looks at an 
army or a navy only from an officer's point of 
view, will never know how to make the most of 
either army or navy. And further, he must look 
beyond the organization in which he is included, 
and see how it is regarded from without. 

But, returning to railway affairs : throughout 
them there is a sad want of the organizing faculty. 
And yet what a reward there would be for the 
exercise of this faculty ! If there were one organ- 
izing mind amongst those who direct the proceed- 
ings of any great railway, it would devise plans 
of improvement that would inevitably be adopted 
by all the other railways. In almost all the details 
of railway management there is room for large 
improvement. The stations are often skilful 
models of inconvenience. The construction of the 
carriages admits of immense improvement. Even 
in a matter apparently so trifling as colour, much 



ORGANIZA TION IN BAIL Y LIFE. 1 1 5 

might be done that would avoid inconvenience 
and disaster. A dark colour is used where it is 
desirable that there should be a light one ; and 
uniformity of colour is chosen where there would 
be a manifest advantage in the use of variety. In 
these great concerns, where the comfort and safety 
of millions of people are concerned, nothing 
hardly is trifling, and everything that is done 
ought to be able to give a good account of itself, 
and offer a ready explanation of why it is so done. 
Could we find a person highly gifted with a talent 
of organization it would be a wise expenditure of 
money to offer that man many thousands of pounds, 
merely to tell us how he would regulate, if he had 
power, any one of the great railway thoroughfares 
of this most locomotive country. 

Organization, however, must always be very 
difficult, because it requires in the organizer an 
unusuaj combination of qualities. Ardour, fore- The qualities 

! i • • • °f a g°°d 

thought, and imagination are among the first organizer, 
qualities. And, as there is so much that is com- 
plicated, disastrous, and inopportune in human 
affairs, it is pre-eminently necessary that a man, 
to organize skilfully, should be very apprehensive. 
He who supposes that things will go well, or 



ii6 AN ESSAY ON 

indeed that they will go at all, without careful 
preparation and constant urging, is unfitted for 
an organizer. At the same time there must be, 
coexisting with the foregoing high qualities, an 
unwearied interest in details, and a power of 
massing them together, and of marshalling them as 
a general does his battalions. Then there must 
be a nice sense of proportion in a good organizer, 
for everything goes by number and by weight. 
Besides, he must possess that tact and knowledge 
of the world which show a mail how business of 
all kinds proceeds, and which are utterly different 
from any knowledge that is to be got from books 
alone. For instance, no man, who has not sat in 
the assemblies of men, can know the light, odd, 
and uncertain ways in which decisions are often 
arrived at by those bodies. No man, who has not 
commanded, can appreciate how much even the 
most precise orders are likely to be disobeyed. 
No man who has not had some practical dealings 
with mankind, is aware how much explanation is 
necessary to make people really comprehend any- 
thing, and how most persons will say that they 
understand what you tell them before they really 
do so. 

It is not necessary, however, for a good organizer 



0RGAN1ZA T10N IN BAIL I LIFE. 1 1 7 

to be a man of very large experience. It is asto- 
nishing how soon a shrewd man will make himself 
master of the foregoing results of experience, and 
of many like them, if he have any opportunity of 
seeing the world. To take a high example, Lord 
Bacon would not have needed to have attended 
many councils before he could write upon them in 
the admirable way that he has done ; but some he 
must have seen before he could so write. 

Everybody knows what great results may be Great results 

-,.,- - .. .. .. ,. from small 

obtained by good organization ; but it is well to att empts at 
see, by the examination of details, how amply men ti ^ ani 
are repaid for even a little expense of thought and 
time given to the methods of organizing. It is 
a well-known saying, and a very true one, that a 
bar of iron or a piece of timber is no stronger than 
it is at its weakest point. There is the point 
where, in real work, it will break ; and this general 
law holds good in many cases, and may be applied 
very largely. 

For instance, any arrangement for the reception 
of crowds of people is likely to be deficient from 
a want of thought of where there will be a rush of 
numbers to a given point at a given time. Now, 
in organizing with a view to this point of difficulty, 
it is surprising what a reward there would be for 



n8 AN ESSAY ON 

any small expense of forethought and method." It 
is perhaps not too much to say, stating the matter 
scientifically, that the mass divided by four equals 
the difficulty divided by sixteen. 

Throughout this essay I shall not hesitate to 
take the most simple and commonplace examples 
occurring in ordinary life, and familiar to many 
people. Abstract propositions are soon forgotten ; 
but these illustrations remain in the mind, and 
may be fairly tested. There was, some little time 
ago, near London, one of the largest assemblages 
of persons that has ever been known. Experienced 
coachmen declared, that in their lives they had 
never had such difficulties to overcome. After the 
entertainment was over, and when the assemblage 
was to disperse, many persons were kept three 
hours waiting for their carriages. There had not 
been the slightest attempt at organization. A 
person of an organizing ^mind, who was present, 
remarked that three or four simple regulations 
The reward would have obviated all the difficulty. I adduce 
ing in a par- this instance solely with a view to show how much 
reward there would have been for even a little 
attempt at organization. He said, if this bewilder- 
ing mass of vehicles had been separated into four 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 119 

divisions,* and placards had been put up stating the 
nature of these divisions, the difficulty would have 
been reduced to small dimensions. By this division 
several persons would soon have found their con- 
veyances and made their way off, at each minute 
rendering the difficulty much less for the timid and 
the inexperienced. In such a case, it is probably 
no exaggeration to say that the division of the mass 
into four would have gone far to reduce the diffi- 
culty into a sixteenth part of its proportions. 

To return to more abstract propositions. The 
common defects of organization are, that it is too 
fixed ; that it leaves no room for growth ; that it is 
pedantic and unreasonably fond of rules ; and that pedantic 
it insists too much on qualifications. What is ti ^ an 
implied by that last word " qualifications " may be 
misunderstood without some explanation. It applies 
to a system adopted in all the departments of civil 
and military service, and also in many private 
undertakings. The moment that you fix a qualifi- 
cation, whether of age, of length of service, or of 

* Such, for instance, as, I, open carriages with two 
horses ; 2, close carriages with two horses ; 3, carriages 
with one horse, not hired ; 4, carriages with one horse (such 
as cabs, &c), hired. 



tions. 



120 AN ESSAY ON 

the possession of money, you do something which, 
at some time or other, will prevent your making 
choice of the best man. And, as far as I have 
been able to observe the effects of this qualifica- 
tion, its imposition has never produced such good 
results as to counterbalance the immense dis- 
advantage of giving up freedom of choice amongst 
men. Take, for instance, the common case of a 
directorship in a railway company. If you say 
that a man, to be a director, must have a certain 
sum of money invested in the stock of that railway 
company, and which has been invested for some 
time (for that I believe is a common rule), you 
reduce your chance of obtaining good men to an 
almost indefinite extent. There is always some 
Quaiifica- reason for these qualifications being adopted : but 
I would maintain that it is never a sufficient reason. 
Observe it in this particular case. The qualifica- 
tion of holding a certain amount of railway stock, 
is imposed with a view to secure the services of 
men who care greatly for the undertaking. We 
may see directly that this reason is not strong, for 
what is a large amount to one man is a small 
amount to another. Moreover, when a man can 
do anything well, and is entrusted to do it, he has 
generally an impulse to action which is as strong 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE, 121 

and as abiding as can be found amongst human 

motives, and which will even surpass the love of 

gain. 

Turning now to the qualification of age, we 

may notice that even the lower animals differ much 

in their resistance to the natural effects of age. Disqualifica- 
tion by age. 
But human beings differ greatly more. Place a 

bar, as regards age, in the military, civil, or legal 

service, and you will have done something to cut 

yourself off from the use of the greatest men. 

The Austrian Monarchy would not have been 

restored, if it had fixed its limit of age in military 

commanders to eighty years. Great luminaries of 

the law, Mansfields, Stowells, Eldons, Lyndhursts, 

Sugdens, Broughams, Campbells, have shone with 

undiminished light at times of life when the minds 

of ordinary men are becoming somewhat dim. And, 

from a foolish limit being placed in America to 

legal service, their greatest lawyer, Chancellor 

Kent, had to retire into comparative obscurity, at 

the early, and immature age for lawyers, of sixty 

years. 

A similar statement might be made in reference 

to statesmen, diplomatists, and other civil servants ; 

and it is very manifest, in the present day, that 

great age does not always imply much decadence 



122 AN ESS A Y ON 

of mental power. The real truth is, that the men 
who become eminent in anything, become so by 
native force. There is a great deal more vigour 
in them than in other men. And if you place a 
limit of age, you almost say, let us be ruled by 
average people. 

Then, as regards placing a bar of disqualification 
on account of age at the other end of the career — 
at the entrance into service — we deprive ourselves, 
by so doing, of many of those men who, at a time 
of life when they know something of their own 
minds and their own qualifications, would be will- 
ing to enter a service, and who would, I am firmly 
convinced, be the ablest men in it. Why should 
not a man at twenty-four years of age be able to 
commence the career of a soldier or a sailor? A 
common delusion which tends to create and justify 
these disqualifications is, that most occupations are 
supposed to be so difficult to learn, that there must 
be a long training for them; which is in many 
cases a total mistake. Aptitude is a general quali- 
fication. Poets, they say, must be born poets : 
painters must be born painters. Inventors show 
the inventive faculty as children. Newton, as a 
child, constructed his windmill. But for all the 
ordinary affairs of civil and military life, a certain 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 123 

general ability will enable a man to act and to 
succeed in many directions. Cardinal Richelieu 
had not gone through much military training ; but 
perhaps he was the fittest man in France to direct 
the siege of Rochelle. 

One of the great difficulties as regards organiza- 
tion in practical life is, that the ground is hardly 
ever clear; and that pedants, and men who are 
dominated 'by mere neatness and completeness of 
planning, will not recognize this fact. 

Some metaphysicians have compared the mind 
of a child to a piece of blank paper upon which 
anything might be inscribed. But this is a very 
inadequate similitude. A better one, perhaps, 
would have been found in comparing the mind of 
a child to land yet uncultivated, and of which the 
cultivation must vary according to the nature of 
the land. But, however this may be, there are Rarely is 

there clear 

very few things with which organization has to ground for 
deal, which can be compared in blankness to a t ion. amZ 
sheet of white paper ; and so organization is, for 
the most part, a patching, mending, correcting, or 
adapting. A new colony affords something which 
at first appears clear ground. But it is not so. 
There is the peculiar nature of the territory, of the 



I2 4 AN ESSAY ON 

adjacent neighbours, and of the colonists them- 
selves, with all their old-world ways, habits, and 
prejudices. In short, in real life you rarely have 
to organize from the beginning, but, rather, to take 
up organization at a certain point of its progress. 
Hence the failure of constitution-mongers like the 
Abbe Sieyes, who are sublimely indifferent to the 
state of facts around them. To use a witty ex- 
pression of Charles II., they will not see that 
" nothing more can be done in the matter than 
is possible." Another branch of this error, and a 
very important one, is, that plans are often or- 
ganized to embrace the settled and the past, which 
can only have a chance of succeeding by being 
limited, in the first instance, to the unformed and 
the future. I will again take a very familiar ex- 
ample from daily life. Our great towns, London 
especially, are perhaps more wonderful and com- 
plicated underground than aboveground. An 
admirable suggestion has been made of late years 
by the Times, so to arrange all this underground 
apparatus that it should be easily got at — that 
there should not be this perpetual occasion for 
disturbing the pavements. All the influence of 
that powerful newspaper has not succeeded in 
gaining for this plan the attention which it de- 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 125 

serves. And it is one of those plans which will not 
have much chance of success until it is brought 
into operation in new ground, unbuilt upon. 
Thence the system may spread. But the difficul- 
ties it will have to meet in dealing with that which 
is already settled and built upon, are so strong that 
it is nearly certain to be stifled by them. 

Another great cause of the failure of organization 
is, that the end proposed is not sufficiently stated The end not 

distinctly 

at the outset. People have not asked themselves, defined. 
at least in any detail, what they really want. 
Accordingly, some easy portion of the project is 
begun at once, and great part of what is then done 
proves a hindrance to a good plan being com- 
pletely executed hereafter. It would not be a bad 
mode of preparing to organize anything, to state in 
writing what would be the perfection of the plan if 
it could be carried out; and then, by degrees, 
taking into consideration all the difficulties that 
occur, to fine down the project and bring it within 
the exact limits of what is practicable. But, at 
first, let there be a statement of what is wanted in 
the fullest acceptation of the words — what you 
would have if you were all-powerful in the matter. 
To lay down this kind of plan requires a great deal 



126 AN ESSAY ON 

of forethought and imagination; but it would be 
well bestowed. England is arming now to prevent 
foreign invasion ; yet few, perhaps, even of govern- 
ing people, have quite determined in their own 
minds what they want — what they would like to 

Defences, have in the way of defences, if time and money 
were in abundance at their disposal; and have 
then seen how much of the essence of the best 
plan in theory can be obtained in practice by the 
means which they are likely to have at their com- 
mand. As things go on in the world, great efforts 
will be made in a scattered, uncomprehensive, and 
unbusiness-like way ; and probably one-third of the 
force brought to bear upon this object will be lost. 
At the present moment, what is wanted for 
England, in her dealings with foreign nations, is, 
to organize a policy, and then to prepare the moral 

To Organize an( j material forces necessary to sustain that policy. 

a policy. 

Doubtless this is a considerable difficulty for any 
country not despotically governed ; since one of 
the drawbacks upon the representative form of 
government lies in the frequent changes which 
take place in the governing persons : changes, too, 
which often have their origin in very slight ques- 
tions, and are not connected with any great change 
of policy, especially as regards foreign affairs. Still 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 127 

these changes in the governing persons may be 
very detrimental, if only in creating the idea abroad 
of a proneness to mutability in our foreign policy. 
If England ever undergoes any deplorable reverse, 
it will probably be for want of preparedness, from 
deficiency in organization generally, and from the 
want of an organized plan of policy steadily pur- 
sued and prepared for. A further danger is, that 
one kind of policy should be adopted in ordinary 
times, and then be suddenly changed at a crisis 
when there are no preparations made to sustain 
and enforce the new policy, and when the old pre- 
parations are unserviceable. Indeed, a large part 
of the preparations of mankind, even in the most 
civilized countries, are like those which are made 
in Thibet for the Great Lama festival called the 
Feast of Flowers, held at the Lamaserai of Koun- 
boum. There are colossal statues of men and 
women, exquisitely wrought models of birds, ani- 
mals, and even buildings; and, in fine, there are 
decorations of the most elaborate and artistic kind. 
But they are all made of butter ; and, though they 
have been laboured at for months, they serve only 
for one day's festival, and are then thrown down 
into a ravine near the Lamaserai, to be devoured 
by crows. 



128 AN ESSAY ON 

The German The German Confederation is a notable in- 

Confedera- . . . 

tion. stance of imperfect organization : and at a period, 

when, if well organized, it might almost reassure 
Europe of tranquillity, it is chiefly useful as afford- 
ing a world-wide example of an ineffectual adapta- 
tion of very powerful means to the ends for which 
they were intended. 

This brings us naturally to the consideration of 
whether certain people and certain forms of govern- 
ment are particularly apt at organization. Much 
misapprehension, I believe, prevails upon this 

Comparison point. It is said, for example, that the French 

of the 

French and are very clever at organization, and that the 
Organizers. English are not. Before this statement could be 
verified, many questions would have to be decided. 
It would perhaps be found that the French are 
best at those forms of organization which are of a 
particularly definite and precise kind, and which 
are very liable to failure from being too regulative 
and pedantic. I think it may be observed that 
Frenchmen cannot readily conceive a rapid change 
of plan, and are somewhat disconcerted by it ; 
whereas, on the contrary, the Englishman, being 
less a slave to logic and to precision of all kinds, 
succeeds in some matters which especially require 
fluency of nature. The British are perhaps the 



powers of 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 129 

most versatile people in the world. This will 
appear an extraordinary epithet to apply to them ; 
but they have shown great versatility. The 
Americans, who have taken many qualities from 
the British, are remarkable for versatility (using 
the word in a good sense). Again, it is the Anglo- 
Saxon race who have everywhere been the best 
colonists, which surely shows a great facility in 
their nature for adapting themselves to varying 
circumstances. 

Then, if we consider the different powers of Organizing 
organization inherent in different forms of govern- delpoti 
ment, we must admit that despotism not only 
possesses peculiar powers of organizing, but that 
all it creates has a certain resemblance to itself, 
and has an appearance and even a reality of order 
and precision, which are likely to be wanting in 
free governments. But then the question comes, are 
these organizations that proceed from despotisms 
as generative and as adaptable to circumstances 
as the organizations under free governments are 
found to be, which certainly do not look so well 
on paper, and are often loosely and irregularly 
formed, but which can walk alone, and do not 
always require the go-cart of Government ? How- 

9 



13° 



AN ESS A Y ON 



ever, as it must be admitted, that, for a given time 
and for matters which are entirely under their own 
regulation, the organizations effected by despotic 
governments are likely to be more brilliant and 
serviceable than those of free governments, it 
especially behoves free nations to study and con- 
trive that their freedom should hinder as little as 
possible their efforts at organization in matters that 
deeply concern their safety. 



Organiza- 
tion of 
labour. 



Work in a 
hayfield. 



Of the different branches of organization, no one 
is more important than the organization of labour. 
This phrase is not used in any social sense, but in 
the humbler one of the direction of labour. I will 
take a very simple instance from rural life. There 
shall be a number of labourers employed in getting 
up a hayrick. A man of an organizing mind will 
enter the field, and, after watching the work for a 
little time, will discern how much labour is lost, 
and what remedy should be adopted to prevent 
that loss. Some labourers are at times standing 
idle in the field, while others cannot overtake the 
work allotted to them. This organizer will so 
dispose the labourers, and so arrange the whole 
mode of transit, as to produce an increase of thirty 
per cent, in the work done. It will be said this is 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 131 

a very simple thing, a mere matter of arrangement, 
which anybody might do. But the remark is a 
ludicrous one. There have been many persons in 
the field all day long, some of them more interested 
in the result, perhaps, than the man who has a 
talent for organization, and who improves all the 
arrangements as soon as he sees them. It is of no 
use saying that the matter is easy, and that any- 
body would see what was going wrong. The 
labourers did not see it, — for aught we know they 
would never have seen it ; or, seeing it, would not 
have known what remedy to propose. All good 
organization tends to simplicity • and, when a wise 
method is proposed, people are ready to say how 
self-evident it is. But, without the few men who 
perceive these self-evident things, the business of 
the world would go on even worse than it does. 

If we wished to look for a notable instance of a Roman 

camp. 

good organization, we could not readily find a 
better one than the camp of a Roman legion. 
The form of the camp, the position of the general's 
quarters, the space between the tents and the 
ramparts, and the respective stations for the 
infantry, the cavalry, and the auxiliaries, were all 
settled points. Every soldier had a complete idea 
of what was to be done, and what was to be his 



132 AN ESSAY ON 

part in doing it. The advantage of such a system 
is too manifest to require any comment. A Roman 
camp must have been formed, or broken up, with 
a celerity unknown in modern times ; and those 
precious half-hours on which the fate of armies 
may depend, must often have been gained by a 
determined pre-arrangement of the exact work to 
be accomplished in this one particular. 
New towns Another instance of good organization was af- 

in the 

Spanish forded by the uniformity of arrangement which 
prevailed in the laying out of any new town in the 
Spanish possessions in America. There was always 
to be a large square. In that square was to be the 
governor's palace. The extent of ground allowed 
to each inhabitant for the building of his house was 
generally a settled quantity ; and, altogether, the 
arrangements were such as enabled every indi- 
vidual to understand what was the idea to be 
fulfilled, and consequently the work to be done. 

The merits of good organization, and the 
demerits of the contrary, are singularly manifested 
in those enterprises which we call joint-stock 
undertakings. The first point to be urged is, that 
this form of enterprise should rarely be adopted 
except when it is absolutely needful. In some 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 133 

cases, such as insurance, it is absolutely needful. 
If the government of a country will not undertake 
insurance, joint-stock companies must do so. In 
the management of those concerns a board of 
directors is chosen for two or three important 
reasons. First, to prevent jobbing. That is an 
ugly and unpleasant word, but there is none other 
that so well expresses what is meant. Secondly, 
to divide odium amongst many persons. It would Joint-stock 

enterprises. 

be a very awkward thing, for instance, for an 
individual to decline to accept the life of another 
for insurance; but a board of directors easily 
undertakes that unpleasant responsibility. Thirdly, 
to represent divers interests. Fourthly, to obtain 
the opinions of various persons, and so to gain col- 
lective, wisdom. These benefits must be attained 
at some sacrifice of that force which is always to 
be founfl in the government of a single individual. 
Indeed, so serviceable are the promptness, the 
speed, the directness, and the comparative in- 
variability belonging to individual action, that 
individuals often obtain a fatal sway in these 
joint-stock undertakings : or, if not a fatal sway, 
a fatal power of malversation. And so, in great 
measure, the first object of these joint-stock under- 
takings may be frustrated. If we look into the 



134 



AN ESS A Y ON 



Frauds, remarkable frauds which have occurred in joint- 
stock companies, we shall find that they have 
been perpetrated with long impunity in conse- 
quence of neglect on the part of the governing 
body in some very simple matter; that neglect 
being produced by the carelessness incident to 
divided responsibility. It is not exactly that 
excessive trust has been placed in an individual 
respecting those matters which he was especially 
fitted to transact. It is not that a skilful traffic- 
manager has been suffered to be too despotic in 
matters of traffic. It is not that the plans of 
an accomplished actuary, or of a wise general 
manager, have been listened to with overmuch 
credulity. But it is that some matter of routine 
has been blindly and amazingly neglected. This 
might, in some measure, be obviated by a judicious 
division of labour amongst the governing body. 
The Government commission which of all that 
we have known worked the best, was composed 
of a few individuals possessing very different quali- 
fications, each of whom took under his especial care 
Division of one branch of the administration, for which he felt 

labour 

creates re- that he was more responsible than any of the 

11} * other commissioners. In any case of the least 

difficulty or peculiarity arising in any department 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 135 

of the business, the commissioner to whom the 
difficulty first came, as belonging to his particular 
work, submitted the matter to his colleagues. All 
the commissioners had a good general knowledge 
of the business of the office ; but, without any- 
formal division of the business, they had come 
to an understanding that particular branches were 
under the especial survey of certain members of 
their body, who had shown the greatest aptitude 
for managing those branches ; and, accordingly, 
they threw into their work some of the energy 
and responsibility which they would have mani- 
fested in their private affairs, or in any matter 
where they were, practically, supreme. With 
reference to the division of labour, we know of 
an instance in a joint-stock body, where one of 
the governing persons, an old gentleman ("con- 
fidence is a plant of slow growth in aged bosoms," 
as Lord Chatham said), solely busied himself in 
asking for important vouchers. If stock was 
bought, he was sure to demand and to inspect 
the vouchers for the purchase. He probably felt 
that he was not a very skilful person in deciding 
upon difficult questions ; but he had a sort of 
watchdog carefulness ; and of that he was resolved 
to make an unfailing use in behalf of the great 



136 AN ESSAY ON 

interests partially committed to his care. It is 
almost a droll thing to observe that those officers 
upon whom the stability of a great concern may 
depend, namely, the auditors, are often made but 
little of, are paid very small amounts for their 
services, and are treated as if their functions were 
little more than unmeaning formalities. 

Some gene- There are several general principles not hitherto 

ral princi- 
ples, mentioned, which must have a place in any fitting 

discussion about organization. For instance, there 
is this one — that all complicated machinery is 
likely to break down in times of hurry and 
pressure. Another is, that divided responsibility 
is sure to lead to confusion and disaster. A third 
is, that all systems tend to a certain kind of 
crystallization ; the system becomes, in the minds 
of those who adopt it, and are bred under it, the 
result, instead of being the means of getting at the 
result. Hence men become the slaves of routine. 
Now, routine is not organization, any more than 
paralysis is order. These and the like con- 
siderations are the morals and metaphysics of 
organization, which depend on the nature and 
habits of men's minds. There are others in which 
a mixture of material and moral considerations 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 137 

enters. For example, the question of what work 
shall be done by contract is a question that ought 
to be settled at an early stage of the organiza- 
tion of various transactions undertaken both by 
individuals and nations. There are some kinds of 
work which I have no doubt may be prudently 
contracted for. There are others which you can 
no more contract for than you can contract for a 
fine poem or a good essay. Any one who is 
skilled in organization, would endeavour to make 
up his mind soon as to what could, and what could 
not, be done by contract. 

There is probably no branch of human work in The building 

of houses. 

which mal- organization, or non- organization, is 
more visible than in building. Here, too, it will 
be found, that several primary considerations have 
never been settled. Ask an ordinary builder what 
thickness of what material is requisite to keep out 
noise ; and you will find it is a question which he 
has never considered. Yet, surely, it is one of the 
first necessity. Then, again, in building, it seems 
never to have been considered that families differ 
in number : and, accordingly, wilfully ignoring this 
consideration, great contractors take large plots 
of ground, and cover them with exactly similar 



138 AN ESS A Y ON 

houses, which are perhaps equally unsuitable to 
large and to small families. The buildings, 
however, look all alike outside, which is held 
to be a most attractive circumstance. They are 
turned out something like the toys for children. 
Yet, surely, even as far as gain is concerned, 
greater profit would inevitably follow greater con- 
venience. Nowhere is routine more observable 
than in building. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 
when she revisited England after being in the 
East, observed that everybody's reception-rooms 
seemed to be constructed after the fashion of a 
grand pianoforte ; and the pianoforte style has held 
its ground ever since, though very little can be said 
for its merits. Again, one would have imagined, 
that climate would be much considered by archi- 
tects and builders ; whereas they often seem to 
think it a slight matter ; and houses are constructed 
after the same pattern, for wet and dry, for cloud- 
less and beclouded districts. Occasionally amongst 
primitive people these manifest realities are thought 
of and allowed for \ but, when you come to highly 
civilized communities (which ought, by the way, 
to furnish the best builders) buildings are turned 
out, for the most part, in a set pattern, and that 
a bad one. 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 139 

There are not many undertakings which afford 
a better example of want of organization than the 
public buildings of a certain great and free coun- Public 

buildings. 

try. In them is to be seen what it is to work 
upon disjointed plans, under different sets of 
masters, and with no pervading purpose or design. 
But, as it has just been said, building is one of the 
most fertile subjects for exemplifying all the merits 
of organization and all the demerits of its oppo- 
site. Very rare, indeed, is it to meet with a well- 
constructed house, even in a country like England, 
which is rich in all the means and appliances for 
building. It always seems as if an ordinary house 
had been constructed with a view to the future 
employment of workmen, in reparation, renewal, 
and reconstruction. Of course all that part of this 
labour which might have been avoided, is so much 
national loss. One of the great defects in house- 
building is, that houses are so constructed as to be 
a mystery even to their owners. Very important 
parts of the building, or rather of the adjuncts to . 
the building, are buried in brickwork ; concealed 
under woodwork ; and made as complicated as 
possible ; so that, when a disaster occurs in a 
house, such as a sudden overflow of water, not one 
of the occupants knows where the disaster arises, 



140 AN ESSA Y ON 

or has more than a guess at what has happened. 
There is seldom any preparation for extremes of 
weather ; and when a frost breaks up, there is 
generally a damage of property in such a city as 
London, which it takes many thousands of pounds 
to repair. Much of this need for reparation occurs 
from an unwise parsimony at the outset; and 
much also from a want of knowledge of the 
nature of the materials for house-building. Then, 
again, the various artizans employed in the con- 
struction of houses have no feeling for each 
other's work, and there is a want of unity of 
purpose in their workmanship. Moreover, the 
house is constructed to be sold or to be let, but 
not to be lived in. 

Another instance of mal-organization is to be 

found in many municipal institutions. In this 

age, though there is much objection to centraliza- 

Municipaim- t i on? municipal institutions have fallen into a 

stitutions. 

certain disrepute, whereas they always afford great 
opportunities for usefulness and administrative 
skill. Many a man is ambitious of getting into 
Parliament and doing something useful there, who, 
having obtained his seat, finds himself powerless in 
that assembly. The same man, however, might 
have been a great light in a municipal council. 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 141 

And it is by such instances of misdirected energy 
that mal-organization often arises ; a large depart- 
ment of administrative business being thus left to 
the mismanagement of merely fussy and preten- 
tious people. 

To proceed to another branch of organization — 
that of intellectual labour — such as the construc- 
tion of a public department. How little skill is Public de- 
partments, 
often shown in its organization. It seems often to 

be forgotten what is the work to be done; and 
should there come a change, or an increase, of 
work, there is next to no power of adaptation to 
meet it. It was a very remarkable confession of 
Sir Robert Peel, on a certain occasion, that work 
which he would have liked to have had done, and 
which he apparently thought ought to have been 
done by Government, could not be effected by the 
force he had at his command in the public offices. 
And yet there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, 
of intelligent men, who could have assisted the 
minister ; but there were no easy ways of getting 
at them. In such a conjuncture, a despotism 
would triumph, for it would insist upon having its 
men to do its work. 

Parsimony is often a great hindrance to good j\ ai "f mon y a 



142 AN ESSA Y ON 

organization. There is work to be done which 
requires fourteen persons to do it, and it may be 
absolutely mischievous to employ only nine. The 
thing is attempted to be done, and is not done ; 
and the plan which is sought to be carried out 
obtains the ill reputation of being impracticable, 
simply because adequate means have not been 
provided to bring it into practice. It has been 
demanded from a pony to do the work of a dray- 
horse. 

Government. The organization of government must ever 
be a most interesting and important form of 
organization ; and it is necessary that it should be 
peculiarly good and skilful among a free people, 
where the difficulties to contend against are very 
great. 

Legislation. If we look at the organization for legislation in 
the foremost constitutional government that exists 
in the world, our own, the arrangements will be 
found to be deplorably defective. When a bill is 
introduced into the House of Commons, no 
mortal can tell what will become of it ; and 
sometimes its fate seems to have no reference 
whatever to its ' merits. It may be a curious 
instance of the association of ideas ; but, in con- 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 143 

templating our mode of legislation, I am some- 
what oddly reminded of a story told by some 
missionary a long time ago. He was amongst a 
black and savage people, and had prospered with 
them very well, until he began to teach them the 
doctrine of original sin. Somehow or other they 
construed his teaching of this doctrine into a 
personal affront. They assembled together ; in- 
stituted a war festival ; and, dancing round the 
unfortunate missionary, darted in upon him with 
fierce and threatening gestures, exclaiming, " Black 
man, is he a bad man; black man a bad man?" 
Whether the missionary escaped with life, or the 
story is told by some brother missionary, I do not 
remember ; but perhaps he might have been saved 
if there were a feast to the moon, or to some 
sacred animal or bird, to be celebrated, which 
took off the attention of the savages. I suppose 
the reason why this story occurs to me in thinking 
of legislation, is, that in both cases the meaning of 
the two principal persons, the missionary and the 
minister in Parliament, is equally misconceived and 
misrepresented, and the result entirely left to terror 
or to chance. 

But, seriously speaking, it cannot be too 
earnestly impressed upon a free nation, that 



144 AN ESSAY ON 

something like method of procedure and skill in 
organization should exist in its modes of legisla- 
tion, if it wishes to conciliate respect for constitu- 
tional government, and to ensure good working 
for that government. A longing eye would never 
be turned, even for a moment, by any sensible 
person, to despotism, if free governments possessed 
only moderate skill in legislation, and if great 
reforms were not hindered by that exhibition of 
freedom which takes the form of noise, nonsense, 
and expense, and allows too much force to mere 
obstructiveness. It is a great grievance to the 
subject of any state, when private legislation, in 
matters that might be very beneficial to him, is 
made so tedious and expensive as to discourage 
enterprise, and hinder some of the best uses of 
property. 

But it is perhaps at the centre of affairs that 

skilful reorganization is chiefly required. As it is, 

Statesmen we are governed by men whose time and attention 

sadly pressed . • 

for time. are so much occupied by all manner of details 
and claims upon them of all kinds, that they must 
look upon everybody who approaches them as a 
bore to be got rid of. If the wisest man in the 
world wished to submit to a British minister the 
best suggestion of a fruitful brain, and if he 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 145 

succeeded in working his way to an interview with 
the minister, the probability is that the great func- 
tionary's pervading thought would be, " How soon 
shall I get rid of this man ? how much of my 
time will he occupy ? " When men perceive this, 
their communications inevitably become poor and 
inadequate. They feel that they will not have the 
requisite attention from this overburdened and 
preoccupied person, whom they have made such 
efforts to see : their explanations become con- 
fused : and their most judicious remarks occur to 
them as they are going down the staircase, having 
left the minister's room. But this is not all. If 
it were only suggesters, improvers, and inventors, 
that could not get a sufficient hearing, though 
great loss might occur to the public service on 
many critical occasions, the business of govern- 
ment might, substantially, be well conducted. 
But the fact is (and I appeal to persons of ex- 
perience whether it is not a fact) that subordi- 
nates can hardly expect to obtain the requisite 
attention, even when the minister is most willing,, 
and most industrious. Now this want of time 
on the part of high official personages is a 
very important subject for consideration; and 
will become more so as civilization advances. 

10 



146 



AN ESS A Y ON 



Then, again, as education advances in a country, 
as there are more people who can read and 
write, there will be more correspondence by letters. 
And when, as in the case of Great Britain, this 
increase of education coincides with great increase 
of population, and with a great increase of industry 
and of the outlets for industry, the claims upon a 
minister's time must also be largely increased. As 
an instance of what I mean, it is no further back 
than the last four or five years that a new colony 
of the highest promise has arisen. I allude to 
British Columbia. There is not a department of 
government to which this colony will not bring 
additional business. 

Now where is the remedy to be found for this 

increasing difficulty? It is only to be found in 

The Cabinet a better organization of the Cabinet Council 

Council. 

itself, and of the several departments over which 
individual ministers preside. 



Constant 
increase of 
the claims 
on a 

minister's 
time. 



Again, to meet this increase of business, much 
Legislative considerateness is needed in legislative assem- 

assemblies. 

blages. They must make up their minds what 
they should do, and what they, should not do. 
The more power they have, the more care they 
should take to avoid injudicious interference with 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 147 

the Executive, unless indeed they are prepared to 
sit all the year round, and to manage all the busi- 
ness of the country themselves, considering the 
ministers as merely the head clerks of departments. 

For the improvement of these departments three How to in- 
things are necessary. First, that there should be effidencyof 
more intellectual strength in them. Secondly, that de P artments - 
the persons having this strength should not be too 
much confined to official life, but should have much 
communication with the outer world. Thirdly, that 
these same persons should have some access to the 
legislative assembly. When Pitt had to fight a bill 
in Parliament, he first shut himself up with the bill r 
and with those who could give him information 
about it, until he had mastered every detail. And 
thus should every bill be dealt with. The man 
who introduces it should know it, and all its bear- 
ings, as a successful aspirant for honours at a 
university knows any of the books he takes up for 
examination. As it is, the legislation emanating 
from any department is often too extensive for the 
minister at the head of the department to master 
all of it thoroughly ; and the person who could 
introduce any particular bill, doing it full justice, 
has no means of getting a hearing. He listens 
patiently, or impatiently, while his measure is 



148 AN ESS A Y ON 

foolishly attacked, or feebly defended, in Parlia- 
ment. This, of course, chiefly takes place with 
respect to what are called minor measures ; but 
which may nevertheless have great influence for 
good or ill upon the public. 

The three objects above named might be easily 
attained if people were once aware of the im- 
portance of them. But as nothing more easily 
escapes attention than indifferent workmanship in 
intellectual matters, it is probable that a remedy 
will never be provided, at least not until some great 
disaster shall have happened, or until some man of 
genius, who has attained political power, turns his 
attention to the improvement of the public de- 
partments, and makes that one of the chief objects 
of his life. 

There is another great branch of human endea- 
vour, indeed the greatest, in which organization is 
especially necessary ; and that is, the administra- 
Works of tion of charity. The French are said to be espe- 
cially skilful in this matter. I shall merely illustrate 
this part of the subject by an example, happily of 
rare occurrence, in which organization is every- 
thing ; and that is, the relief of famine. The 
number of things to be skilfully provided for in 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 149 

such a case is great, and the questions to be settled 
1 very embarrassing. What kind of food is best ; 
what kind of food is especially portable; what 
kind of food will combine best with what little of 
other food is left in the starving district ; what a famine. 
mode of transport is best fitted to convey supplies 
to the district ; what mode of circulation within 
this district is most feasible : where the main depot 
should be placed; where the subsidiary depot's 
should be situated; what strength is still left in 
the people for journeys to the place where food is 
to be obtained; how the strong should be prevented 
from crushing the weak; and how all should be 
encouraged and set to work ; — are no light difficul- 
ties. There has been one man in our generation 
who has been great on this subject ; and it will be 
in the recollection of many official men how well 
that man performed his work. One hundred thou- 
sand pounds entrusted to him would go as far as 
double the sum dealt with in a slatternly and un- 
systematic manner. A similar kind of skill is 
required for all great works of charity. 

If we pursue the question of organization into 
several departments where so fine a word is seldom 
used for the thing to be done, but where the bene- 
fits of good organization would be very manifest, 



i So AN ESSAY ON 

we shall find that it is often greatly neglected. 

Take for example the organization for teaching. 

Organization How sadly deficient are dictionaries, grammars, 

for teaching, * 7 ° 7 

recipe-books, indexes, notes, and commentaries. 
In looking around him at the great accumulations 
of knowledge, which he supposes to be stored up 
in books, the unpractised student thinks he will be 
able to find out everything he can want to know. 
At a later period it is with a heavy heart that he 
sets to work to make any research in any subject. 
It is not that there have not been many people 
who have known a great deal of the subjects they 
have undertaken to write about ; but they have not 
conveyed their knowledge with method or preci- 
sion : often they have not seemed to know what it 
is that other people would stumble over ; and, 
worst of all, they have almost invariably presumed 
that the persons, for whose benefit they were writ- 
ing, did not require much instruction, but were 
already very well informed; whereas, there is no 
depth or density of ignorance which might not 
more reasonably have been taken for granted. 
Unfortunately, however, as soon as anybody knows 
anything well himself, he seems to be so far re- 
moved from other people's ignorance as to be 
unable to make any due allowance for it. I shall 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE, 151 

turn again to a familiar instance. An animal is 
suddenly taken ill. The person who in such cases 
should be called in is not to be found. Indeed, 
there are very few of such persons. Recourse is 
had to books. Books on the subject are abundant. 
You are very fortunate in such a case if the symp- 
toms are so clearly defined in the book you consult 
as to enable you to recognize the disease. Then 
comes the remedy, which perhaps runs in this sort 
of phraseology : " Dissolve a little something in 
something else." This is not precise enough for 
your purpose ; and you turn to another work, 
where, alas ! you find only a variation of the 
former words : " Dissolve a bit of something in 
a little of something else." Not a word is given 
in either prescription of the quantities to be used. 
You are then told to trim a feather neatly, and 
with it to apply the medicament. What a mass of 
vagueness it all is ! "A feather ! " What feather ? 
" Trimming neatly ! " What is meant by trimming 
neatly ? Altogether it seems as if you were almost 
mocked by the incompleteness of these directions, 
which, to be of swift utility, should have been given 
with the utmost preciseness.* 

What has been said above about a particular class 

* I need hardly say that I am taking an instance from 
real life. The disorder was one affecting the trachea. 



152 AN ESSAY ON 

of books of instruction, applies equally to other 
classes. The result is that you can seldom find 
exactly what you want to know. To write a well- 
organized grammar would really be a work of high 
art, and would require some of the qualities of a good 
general. It is not to be wondered at that Julius 
Caesar should have written a grammar; for the func- 
tions of a good writer on grammar and a great 
general are not so far apart as we might imagine. 
In both cases you have to penetrate into a hostile 
country, and every movement onwards should have 
exactly the right force to maintain the movement. 

If we look at the cause of failure in works of 
nstruction, and in the methods of instruction, it 
arises from a fault which has been before noticed 
as common to other forms of mal-organization : 
namely, a forgetfulness of the main purpose for 
Forgetful- which the organism is intended. To that main 

ness of the 

purpose there must be constant recurrence in the 
mind of the organizer. In teaching, he has not to 
display knowledge, but to impart it : and this pur- 
pose he has to maintain, at all hazard of being 
lengthy, or tedious, or reiterative \ just as the 
builder has to remember that the house he is 
building is to be lived in, a circumstance which, as 
I have before observed, is not always fully present 
to his mind. 



main pur- 
pose. 



service. 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 153 

Turning now to an instance of organization of a 
very different kind, we may notice how much skill Organization 

J ' J for domestic 

is required in organizing for domestic service and : 
comfort. It is universally admitted that servants 
are the great difficulty of modern domestic life : 
but very few aids and appliances, comparatively 
speaking, have been introduced to lessen domestic 
labour. Some persons who have considered this 
subject say that we are very unskilful as regards 
the movement of burdens of all kinds in our 
domestic economy. I am afraid that a better con- 
struction of houses would be necessary to effect the 
great improvements which these persons contem- 
plate. But the subject is well worth consideration; 
and certainly, at present, it often seems as if there 
were very little work obtained from the force put in 
motion, and as if there must be somehow or other a 
great loss of labour. 

Of all the services which a man of an organizing 
mind can render to his country, one of the first is 
that bestowal of patient thought and elaborate fore- 
sight which shall have for its result the organization 
of a policy upon some difficult and complicated 
subject. Take, for instance, our Colonies and 
military outposts. Whether there are any of the 



154 AN ESSAY ON 

latter which should not be retained ; what expenses 
we ought to defray, and what expenses we ought 
not to defray, in reference to our Colonies ; what 
defences we should prepare for them, and what 
defences we should urge upon them to prepare for 
themselves, in case of war : these are all great 
questions, and questions that we cannot escape 
from. Millions of money might be saved by the 
man who should investigate the relations between 
a Mother-country and its colonies, and who should 
apply his conclusions to the exact state of things 
with which Great Britain has at present to deal. 
As it is, the policy of most countries as regards 
these great subjects is purely accidental : it is at 
the mercy of obscure revolts in distant provinces : 
it depends upon the accident of a demagogue rising 
here or there, or on the casual blunders of official 
personages. Meanwhile the inhabitants of the 
Mother-country are often taxed for some colonial 
object which, if well understood, would be instantly 
abandoned ; and whole populations of laborious 
people are victimized for the sake of some idea 
which cannot be realized, and for some dubious 
and hesitating policy which will be shivered to 
atoms when there comes upon the Mother-country 
the real pressure of disastrous events. 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 155 

What we have said, hitherto, of the uses of 
organization, has reference to matters, compara- 
tively speaking, private and provincial. But there 
is a use to which skilful organization might be 
directed that far transcends all these. It is such a 
political organization of the governing men, and of 
the better men throughout the various states of the 
world, as should enable them to have a potent 
voice in the conduct of the world's affairs. At this 
moment, there is scarcely a discreet person in Eng- 
land who is not deeply anxious for the maintenance 
of peace — not of an armed peace, but of an in- 
expensive and real peace. Surely there are thou- 
sands of men in France, Germany, Russia, Italy, 
and Spain, who fondly desire the same great good. 
But a few commanders of legions, abetted by those 
persons in every state who are restless, intriguing, 
and vain-glorious, desire the contrary. And these 
latter prevail. If they cannot have war, at least 
they prevent most of the benefits of peace. Is 
there no way by organization of counteracting their 
designs? The hackneyed expression of Burke — 
" when bad men conspire, good men should com- 
bine " — is not hackneyed in action. Doubtless this 
organization so much to be desired, though not 
an aim wholly beyond the endeavours of private 



156 AN ESSAY ON 

individuals, lies chiefly within the province of skil- 
ful and foreseeing statesmen. There is such a 
desire for peace as we have described prevalent 
throughout Europe ; and the leaders of mankind, 
as statesmen aim to be, might surely bring this 
desire into forcible action. When a Congress was 
last held in Europe, it was felt by many men that 
the objects of the Congress were but small, and 
that what Europe really needed, was a Congress 
that should dare to speak boldly to ambitious 
monarch s respecting the vital subject of disarma- 
ment. 

One of the main difficulties in the way of such 
an organization is the frequent change of Ministers 
which must take place in Constitutional Govern- 
ments, — those, too, • being the Governments in 
which the desire of peace is most likely to prevail. 
But any Cabinet that should commence the heroic 
effort of an organization for peace, would lay down 
lines on which the noble vessel would hereafter be 
built. And, whether the attempt should prove 
fruitless or not, it ought to be made by statesmen, 
if statesmanship is to hold the high place in the 
world which it has hitherto maintained. Freedom 
has not been gained by any nation without great 
and continuous effort s$ which have been attended 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 157 

by anything but continuous and unvarying success. 
Peace also is not to be gained but by great and 
skilful labour, and through much adversity of every 
kind; It is one of those triumphs which are not 
won without being planned for. Vague wishes will 
not produce it. We should not content ourselves 
with merely waiting for it, as sanguine men in des- 
perate circumstances wait for some signal piece of 
good luck that should inevitably retrieve their affairs. 
It will more assuredly come by being worked for ; 
and it is not a good beyond the power of skilful 
organization, long and patiently directed, to attain. 

I shall venture to add that there is a use of 
organization to which it has seldom been applied, 
and indeed where its application will at first be held 
to be ludicrous : and that is, the organization of 
pleasure. Inexperienced people imagine that 
festivity is an easy, haphazard sort of thing, that 
merely requires certain means and appliances, and 
that all will then go straight and right. But any- 
body who has tried to entertain 300 persons will 
speak very differently. Indeed, throughout nature 
we may see that it is not the material, but the use 
of it, that gives the great result. Perhaps the air 
we breathe affords the most striking illustration of 



158 AN ESSAY ON 

that fact which is anywhere to be found. In the 
atmosphere the elements are mechanically mixed, 
and they give life and health. Combine the same 
elements chemically, and they furnish the most 
deadly poison. All life would stop on this globe, 
if the nitrogen and oxygen in the air were chemi- 
cally combined. Indeed throughout chemistry a 
similar law is visible. It is two of this, and three 
of that, and five of the other, that make some useful 
compound. Change one of these numbers ever so 
little, and you have quite a different result : per- 
Organization haps a noxious one. These seem rather grand 

of pleasure. .... 

illustrations to apply to the organization of pleasure 
and festivity ; but they are faithful illustrations, and 
of universal application. For want of attending to 
a judicious combination of means, on most occa- 
sions of festivity, from an assembly at the grandest 
duke's down to a picnic in the country amongst 
country people, you may generally prophesy failure. 
The primary fact of number is seldom attended to, 
though you would imagine that this was one of the 
first things to be thought of. What is suitable for 
200, is totally unsuitable for 270; and yet that 
additional 70 is often thrown in with the greatest 
carelessness. Hence it is that from crowding of 
people, from the want of judicious ingress and 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 159 

egress, from an unskilful position of furniture, from 
an inapt choice of guests, from a want of judicious 
introduction, most festivities are failures. Dances 
are given at which nobody can dance : assemblages 
of brilliant and conversable personages are collected 
together ; but they cannot move about pleasantly, 
and often their great souls are devoted to the 
serious questions of how they shall get out of that 
corner in which they are imprisoned, and how they 
shall eventually make their escape from the party. 
Yet a little forethought and organization would 
have set all these things to rights. 

Our public amusements partake the same faults. 
There seems to be no knowledge that each living 
being requires a certain portion of air to recreate 
itself with, and that there is nothing but detriment 
for it without that necessary portion of air. An all- 
wise Providence has fixed that rule ; and it is no 
good attempting to ignore it. There might be a Theatres. 
theatre that should help to renovate the drama, and 
should be the delight of the world ; but if it is to 
do so in modern times, it must be so organized as 
regards its lighting, airing, warming, and especially 
as regards its facility of ingress and egress, as to 
combine all the necessary elements of reasonable 
comfort. 



160 AN ESS A Y ON 

The same law applies to the pleasures of the 
poor. Drunkenness is the great evil of the world. 
You will never remove it until you have organized 
better pleasures for the poor, especially those plea- 
sures which should make drunkenness a slower 
affair. The fact that drunkenness is mostly 
managed in gin-palaces without sitting down, is 
alone a most disastrous circumstance. You see 
this when contrasting the habits of our own and of 
foreign nations. Put a man in a room where he 
can play dominoes, read newspapers, and have 
what he considers good talk ; and you will observe 
that he will not drink as fast or as deep, or as 
strongly as he otherwise would. In short there 
would be other things to amuse him besides drink- 
ing; and what does he drink for, but to amuse 
himself, and to forget troubles of every kind ? 

The force of it may be observed, generally, as regards organi- 

numbers un- 
appreciated, zation, that very few people appreciate the force of 

numbers.* For instance, as I have before said, it 

would astonish a person who has not tried it, to 

* More than this : few of us have any power of accurately 
estimating number. On a clear night there are, it is said, 
but two thousand stars visible to an observer of ordinary 
powers of vision. Most persons, we have little doubt, 
imagine that they have seen thousands upon thousands. 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 161 

find how long it will take to divide and apportion 
victuals amongst 300 persons. And the same 
ignorance is visible in all dealings with crowds. 
Hardly anybody sufficiently considers what will 
give way under the pressure of a crowd, or how 
easy it is by skilful subdivision to diminish the 
threatened danger. What a road will bear ; what 
a bridge will carry \ how much labour animals can 
endure ; and, in fact, at what rate large bodies of 
men and sustenance can be efficiently moved ; — 
are questions that may concern, at some critical 
moment, the supremacy of an empire. And the 
nation that has the best organizers to the front will 
be the nation that will win the day. The first Napoleon's 

skill in Or-i 

Napoleon was, in general, very skilful, prompt, and ganization; 
foreseeing in organization : but in his latter days a 
defect pervaded his mode of organizing, which was 
fatal to him. He fell into routine and paper-work. 
I believe it was noticed in his Leipsic campaign 
that there were wonderful plans drawn up by him 
on paper, and circulated as orders of the day : but 
parts of them could not be executed : they were 
not applicable to the state of facts; and he was 
too imperious to listen to such remarks from his 
subordinates as, " Please your Majesty, nothing 
more can be done in this than is possible." 

IX 



162 AN ESSAY ON 

Organization In short, all organization must be followed up. 

should not be .. . . 

inanimate. It should not be an inanimate, but a living, growing 
thing, prepared to meet the endless chances and 
changes which take place in this mutable world. 
Hence, in a consummate organizer, you require a 
versatility which can abandon to resume ; which 
expands in order afterwards to contract; which 
has such a sense of the main result to be obtained, 
that it can sacrifice at once immense preparations 
no longer applicable to the shifting circumstances. 
This, of course, is the triumph of genius. The 
looker-on may call it haphazard work ; but it is 
really the highest form of organization. 

Unfailing In a certain town in China, at the Hotel of the 

success in 

business not Three Perfections, the passers-by are informed that 
attained by all sorts of business are negotiated with Unfailing 
western Success.* What skill in the conduct of business 

nations. 

may have been attained by that aged, punctilious, 
and literate people, the Chinese, who, according 
to their own account, have lived so many more 

* " By dint of looking on all sides, we at last espied a 
sign, on which was written in large Chinese characters, 
* Hotel of the Three Perfections, lodging for travellers 
on Horse or Camel ; all sorts of business negotiated with 
Unfailing Success.' " — Hue's Tartary, Thibet, and China, 
chapter 5. 



thousand years upon the earth than other nations, 
we, a juvenile product of recent civilization, cannot 
presume to determine. But, in these western parts 
of the world, we certainly have not yet attained the 
art of negotiating all sorts of business with unfailing 
success. On the contrary, our affairs are full of 
failure ; and, in laying down plans for organization, 
there is hardly ever allowance enough made for 
these failures, especially as regards the human Failures to 

. be allowed 

agents, who are to be employed. It is almost f or . 
amusing to hear the way in which men scheme out 
a public office, or propose arrangements for military 
or naval service. If it is a public office, they divide 
it, perhaps, into departments, at the head of each 
one of which, they say, there is to be a clever man. 
Perhaps, too, it is provided that he is to be chosen 
out of the ranks of men already in the office. But, 
unfortunately, aptitude in a lower department does 
not necessarily infer aptitude in a higher ; and even 
a power of choosing men, which is unfettered, and 
which is really exercised with the best intentions, 
will not always ensure a good choice, simply 
because you cannot find out whether men can work 
well in a particular way until they have been tried 
in it. As a notable instance of this, it may be 
observed that some men's faculties are benumbed 



1 64 AN ESSAY ON 

by responsibility \ while, on the contrary, the facul- 
ties of others are quickened by it ; and the man 
whom you thought frivolous, light, indolent, or 
indifferent, is, all of a sudden, changed by respon- 
sibility into a being of another character. 

Many other reasons might be adduced;* but, 
whatever the reasons may be, the fact is certain, 
that, choose as you will, you must make a large 
allowance for failures. Hence, in any organization 
of men to do any work, you must provide some- 
Autocratic thing like autocratic power resident in some one 
person, who must find the men to do the work, 
especially when the need for good men is urgent. 
When the elder Pitt chose Wolfe to take the 
command in Canada, it was not that any system of 
military organization had brought Wolfe into that 
position naturally ; but the minister heard of the 
man ; sent for him ; looked at him ; asked him 
whether he could do the work that was to be done ; 
and, judging from his answer, and from the whole 
bearing of the man, that he was the right kind of 

* For instance, before you have had some experience of 
the way in which a man handles business, how can you 
know whether he will divide to methodize, or divide to sub- 
tilize ? Bacon says : "He that doth not divide, will never 
enter well into business ; and he that divideth too much 
will never come out of it clearly." 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 165 

person, resolved, on his own responsibility, to 
appoint him. No system can supply the place of 
personal knowledge and judgment; but a system 
may be so organized as always to allow room for 
the exercise of this knowledge and judgment. 

In forming any organization, it is most desirable Trial of Or- 
ganization. 
to get in some way or other a trial of it ; so that 

it shall meet with all the strain that it will have to 
encounter in real life, and yet, if it should break 
down, the failure should not be absolutely dis- 
astrous. It is said that one of the great firms, 
whose business it is to build locomotive engines, 
never allows an engine to go out of the yard, until 
it has travelled a thousand miles in that yard. 
This is as it should be; and a like precaution 
might be adopted in many other matters. The 
necessity for these trials and rehearsals arises, of ' 
course, out of the weakness of our nature. Even 
the largest and "most foreseeing minds are apt to 
overlook or forget some small thing which yet is 
requisite for success. And thus harmonious work- 
ing can only be ensured by previous trial. How 
much this is requisite is nowhere better seen than 
in the getting-up of an amateur play. All the 
performers shall know their parts thoroughly well, 



1 66 AN ESSAY ON 

and be very clever men and women ; but the 
a rehearsal, rehearsal discloses to them many small points of 
dialogue, and dexterous little arrangements of 
" properties," which have to be arbitrarily settled 
and provided for beforehand, if the performance is 
to go off well and smoothly. It is likely that con- 
siderable discouragement will be felt after the first 
rehearsal has taken place ; but that discouragement, 
leading to adaptation of all kinds, is often the 
parent of a sure success. Everybody will admit 
the truth of the foregoing remarks, and even think 
them somewhat commonplace. But yet what 
many of us do not see, is, that we could institute 
More trials more trials, experiments, and rehearsals than we 

might be 

instituted, do adopt : and we should institute them if we were 
once deeply convinced of the exceeding and pe- 
culiar benefit of all such trials. In building, for 
example, hardly any labour is thrown away which 
is given to very accurate models made in the first 
instance — models not only of the proposed building, 
but of the buildings which surround it. The same 
remark applies to works of art, especially to those 
of a public character, in which, if models were 
made, not only of the work of art proposed, but of 
all that would come near it and be in the same 
purview, much absurdity and irrelevance would be 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 167 

prevented. Again, in the disposition and arrange- 
ment of troops for offence or defence, frequent 
trials of their capability for movement are essential 
to the efficiency of the force ; and I suppose a 
general would rather have under his command fifty 
thousand men, of whose powers of movement and 
concentration he had had some experience, than a 
hundred thousand of equal worth in other respects, 
but of whose powers of movement he knew nothing. 
It is only by these experiments that we learn to 
make due allowance for adverse and peculiar cir- 
cumstances. The effects of fair weather, rainy 
weather, or snowy weather, on the movements of 
troops or of the materials for war, will only be 
thoroughly ascertained by practical experiment. 
The Duke of Wellington, after observing, with the 
late Lord Londonderry, a review of an immense 
number of Russian troops, made some such ob- 
servation as the following : " You see, Charles, this 
is all very fine ; but I think our little army could 
move round about them in every direction in a 
way that would astonish them." The Duke knew 
from experience what he could do with his little 
army. 

It is for reasons similar to the above that it is so 
valuable to gain the advantage of a new eye to 



168 AN ESSAY ON 

look upon any matter of organization. Honest 
criticism is always very valuable to a man of settled 
purposes who can bear a great deal of criticism 

Criticism. without being overpowered by it. And nowhere is 
criticism likely to be more available than when it 
is addressed to systems of organization. I have no 
doubt that there is not a system of organization 
existing in this country, however well devised, 
which, if submitted in all its details to a shrewd 
man of organizing nature, might not in some point 
or other be considerably improved by his sug- 
gestions. The people who are engaged in working 
out anything, soon come to love the mode of 
working, and to believe in it a little more than 
they should do. The cold unprejudiced eye of a 
bystander called in for consultation, will see things 
to which the wisest men engaged in the working of 

The workers the organization have become somewhat blind. 

duU about" ^n m dolent boy, probably devoted to marbles, was 

improving it. get tQ W0Y ^ m a complicated system of machinery, 
to conduct some small operation, which he found 
could be managed just as well by connecting two 
parts of the machinery with a string, while he was 
thus left free to play with his marbles. That cir- 
cumstance led to an improvement in a certain 
branch of machinery. It is true that in this 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 169 

instance, the improvement was found out in 
practice : but discoveries of a similar kind are often 
more likely to be made by a shrewd stranger than 
by those who are so accustomed to the practical 
management of the machine, that they have lost, 
in some measure, the power of criticizing, and have 
ceased to look out for improvements. 

Readiness of resource must always be a great Readiness of 

resource. 

element in the good working of any organization. 
It may not be wanted in the mind of the person 
who plans the organization. He has, or ought to 
have, plenty of time to form his plans, and abund- 
ance of opportunity for consultation with others ; 
but in execution ready and fertile minds are 
requisite. It must be owned that it is difficult to 
discover this readiness by any formal examination, 
but a little converse with a man may soon lead to 
the discovery of whether he is a ready man or not. 
As I said before, I have advisedly taken all manner 
of commonplace instances to illustrate this essay ; 
and I now choose a humorous and trivial one. 
In a remote country place there was a building An example 
suddenly to be prepared and used for a festal occa- ° f ^source! 
sion. The work was done in a hurry, and there 
was no opportunity for any rehearsal of the festivity. 



170 AN ESSAY ON 

The carpenters did not leave off working until 
the time when, with sharp ears, the sound of ap- 
proaching wheels might be heard. The building 
was lighted up ; but owing to the roof being lined 
with a dark canvas, and to other circumstances, 
the lighting was totally inadequate. The managers 
looked at one another in dismay ; not that all the 
dismay on their countenances could be seen, on 
account of the general dimness that prevailed. 
" What is to be done?" they exclaimed. A young 
man standing by said, " Seize upon the carriage- 
lamps : they will furnish us an abundant supply of 
light." Others were quick enough to discern the 
modes by which these lamps might be attached to 
the building. A remedy was thus provided, and 
that which would have been an egregious failure 
was turned into a complete success. Now this is 
one of those cases in which people exclaim, How 
obvious a remedy ! how sure we are that we should 
have thought of that ! But probably no one would 
have thought of it — at any rate no one but a man 
of ready resource. The young man's reply to that 
difficult question is equal in value to nine good 
answers on the Peloponnesian War, an ample 
account of the digamma, eleven solutions of sums 
in decimal fractions, not to mention three accurate 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 171 

lists of kings, given in reply to questions set by- 
examiners for the Civil Service. I am not ridi- 
culing these functionaries. They have no oppor- 
tunity of testing men in this way \ but these little 
things are famous tests, and are among the best 
proofs of the highest qualities. And they are only 
to be got at by personal knowledge. The result is 
that the most serviceable men are not to be found 
out by any mechanical system, be the mechanism 
ever so good. 

Let no man say, because an organism continues 
to exist, and has continued for a long time, that its 
organization is therefore good. It is astonishing Tenacity of 
what a long time a thing will last which has yet lost orgasms*"* 
its chief meaning and savour. All people have a 
conservative element in them ; and, besides, the 
want of time prevents men from looking closely 
into an existing institution, and considering whether 
it serves the purpose*, they mean it to serve. And 
so the organism goes on like an old tree that has 
long ceased to make any accretions of vitality, that 
is dying at the root, and dying at the branches, and 
putting forth fewer leaves and smaller fruit every 
year. But still, to the unobservant eye, it seems 
very strong ; and it is not until the day of its fall 



172 AN ESSAY ON 

that men find out how decayed it was, and wonder' 
that it could have stood upright so long. This 
tenacity in certain organisms, and the unwillingness 
of men to interfere with them, even when they 
suspect them to be of little use, or, perhaps, a 
hindrance rather than a service, must be taken 
largely into account by those who would propose 
any new organization to take the place of what has 
been a long time before the eyes of the world. 
The passport The passport system affords an example of or- 

system. 

ganization which is deserving of notice, especially 
as regards what has been said above respecting the 
tenacity of certain organisms. It has often hap- 
pened that a man has seen something flourishing 
in his own times, which he is well aware will in 
future cease to exist, and of which he would like 
to leave an accurate account on record for the 
benefit of future ages. If any person were, with 
that view, to seek to describe the passport system, 
he would be greatly puzzled. It is not that he 
could not give a fair account of the physical and 
material aspect of the system ; but he would feel 
that posterity would ask, at the outset, and before 
entering into any details, what were the main drift 
and meaning of the system. And he would be 
unable to give any satisfactory reply to this ques- 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 173 

tion. Does it serve to protect the head of the 
State from the danger of assassination? Does it 
in any way prevent insubordination, or check con- 
spiracy? He will be obliged to answer in the 
negative. The most dangerous man in Europe 
would find no difficulty in going where he listed. 
What reason, therefore, can be given for such a 
system being maintained ? It is grievous, onerous, 
and expensive. It vexes innocent people, dis- 
courages commerce, and creates general dissatis- 
faction. It cannot justly be replied that it gives 
employment to many persons; and that despotic 
monarchs fear to do away with the system for fear 
of its distressing private individuals. Nothing 
would be easier than to give ample compensation 
to the persons at present employed ; and no griev- 
ance to the subject could be made out of the 
abolition of such a system. This peculiar case of 
organization has been cited for two reasons. First, 
it affords a notable instance of an utter want of 
thought as to the object to be attained. If the 
object is to protect states and monarchs from the 
intrusion of dangerous men into their dominions, The passport 
the passport system ought to be made a thousand syst< 
times more strict. It should be dealt with like 
persecution in matters of faith, which will succeed, 



174 AN ESSAY ON 

as the history of the world shows, if sufficiently 
severe and continuous; but a persecution which 
pinches, but does not suppress, is merely an irritant, 
and not an absorbent. Secondly, this passport 
system affords an instance of an organism of which 
the spirit has long ago died out, but which stands 
upright, and may seem to have some strength and 
meaning in it, merely because it cumbers the earth 
and is a decided hindrance. 

Various kinds of organization have been con- 
sidered in this essay. Many hindrances to good 
organization have been pointed out, and some few 
furtherances have been shown ; but, after all, what 
must be mainly relied upon is to get the organizing 
man. 

It may be asked what are the nearest gifts to 

this power of organization that is so much wanted 

in the world ? How can we divine whether a man 

Qualities of will be a good organizer, or whether he will not ? 

a good 

Organizer. This is a question that can hardly be answered 
except by some observation of the particular man. 
Apprehensiveness has been declared to be neces- 
sary. This quality may soon be discerned in any 
person. Moreover, what method there is in any 
man's mode of working may readily be observed 



ORGANIZA TION IN BAIL V LIFE. 1 75 

if only a little of the man's work is submitted for 
inspection. There are other qualifications, how- 
ever, which are more difficult to be discerned. 
Two essential qualities in a good organizer are 
a thorough and constant perception of the end in 
view, and a power of dealing with masses of details, 
never forgetting that they are details, and not 
becoming their slave. It requires much converse 
with a man before you can ascertain his qualifica- 
tions in either of the foregoing respects, especially 
the former. It must take some time to ascertain 
of any man that he is clear and constant in his 
main purpose, and is not to be led away from it 
by the dexterous fulfilment (devised by himself or 
others) of smaller ends and aims. Then, again, 
a man may be judiciously apprehensive, methodical, 
clear and constant in his purpose, and great in the 
mastery of details, so far as the research into them 
and the putting them in some kind of order is con- 
cerned. But he may not be skilful in putting them 
afterwards in their right places. There is a want 
of proportion in his work. He knows what work 
is to be done, and what kind of machinery must be Deficiency 
invented to do it. He has skilfully collected and m^nilfthe 
methodized his materials. But he cannot fit them l * st touch of 

Organizing 

well together in the order in which they are to skilL 



176 AN ESSAY ON 

work. And this peculiar kind of skill can hardly 
be predicated of any man until you have seen him 
in action. 

Such are the difficulties which must beset the 
search after skilful organizers ; which cannot be 
an easy task, whether it be undertaken by a 
monarch in search of a minister, or a minister in 
search of a general or of a head of a civil depart- 
ment ; or whether, in lower spheres, it is the search 
on the part of a number of individuals banded 
together in some social or commercial enterprise 
for a man to organize victory for them. This 
phrase of organizing victory was applied, I believe, 
to Carnot ; and it does not give organization more 
than its due. 
Examina- It may easily be inferred, if what has been above 

tionsmaynot , , , . . , ,, . 

bring out the stated has any truth in it, that all examinations 
Organizer. ^^ s j 10u ] ( j mere i v deal with acquisition, would 
probably fail in enabling us to discern the man of 
an organizing mind. The knowledge that was 
to be acquired lay before the man. His powers 
of taking it up are one thing : his powers of work- 
ing it are another. He has dealt with the past; 
you will want him to deal with the future. 

I suspect it is often imagined that eloquent men 
are deficient in powers of organization. But there 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 177 

is no truth in this ; for, as far as the eloquent man 
shows method and foresight in his speaking, he 
shows qualities which fit him for organization. 
The same holds good of great writers as well as 
of great speakers. 

It is an immense error to suppose that men who 
have shown themselves excellent in imagination, 
are, on that account, deficient in practical powers. 
It is said that Lord Byron would have made a 
skilful politician. There is no doubt that Goethe 
and Sir Walter Scott* were first-rate men of business. 
It happened to the writer of this essay to be once 
concerned with others in a very difficult transac- imaginative 

and learned 

tion, in reference to which communications were men not 

. deficient in 

addressed to them by all manner of people, lhe p0 wersofOr- 
t wo communications which, for clearness of view gamzatl ° 1 
and mastery of details, were thought to be pre- 
eminent, came from two remarkable men of letters. 
The writer was afterwards not surprised to hear 
that one is a consummate manager of private 
theatricals, and that the parish of the other is a 

* Any errors of Sir Walter in his own affairs do not con- 
clusively militate against this statement. Generous men 
are particularly apt to neglect their own affairs, and to com- 
mit errors in them which they would not commit in the 
affairs of others entrusted to them. Observe the life of Lord 
Bacon in proof of this. 

12 



178 AN ESSAY ON 

model parish. There is a certain learned Dean of 
the present day* who is perhaps the best chairman 
of a committee that can be met with : and, in fact, 
literature, science, and art would be found in all 
ages to supply men peculiarly capable for the 
practical management of the ordinary affairs of 
life, and who would be likely to excel in organiza- 
tion, as they have already done something which 
requires organizing skill, f 

Finally, in any work that a man has done, some 
of his aptitude for organization may be observed. 
A quibbling, crotchety person lacks, of course, the 
nature fitted to organize. A sanguine person lacks 
the nature to commence organization, although he 
may be able to maintain it when it is placed in his 
hands. Pliancy and firmness are both needed. 

* 1862. 

f Anybody who has watched Mr. Carlyle's skill in attain- 
ing any information he cares to obtain must see that he 
could have been an excellent man of business. His drafts 
and his despatches might have been expressed in language 
not strictly in accordance with that of routine, but they 
would have been full of insight and foresight, and practi- 
cality of all kinds. Again, no one has ventured to say that 
Mr. John Stuart Mill's learning, imagination, and logical 
powers have at all dimmed his reputation as an accomplished 
administrator. 



ORGANIZATION IN DAILY LIFE. 179 

A judicious abidance by rules, and holding to the 
results of experience, are good ; but not less so, 
are a judicious setting aside of rules, and a declining 
to be bound by incomplete experience. War fur- 
nishes the best illustrations of what is wanted in 
this respect. Drill is a good thing ; but drill is not 
to master us. To keep within reach of our supplies 
is a needful thing; but splendid movements have 
been executed in contravention to this rule. To 
have a base for our operations is no doubt a good 
military rule ; but, occasionally, baseless operations 
have effected great results in war. And other 
instances might be multiplied without end. 

In conclusion, we cannot do better than turn 
again to Nature. In her organization there are 
the "vital force" which makes the plant grow, 
and the substances, organic and inorganic, which 
supply its sustenance. These latter correspond to 
our preparations of material, our rules, regulations, 
and ordinances, without a supply of which the 
organizing faculty will die, but which often smother 
it, or at least obstruct its growth. On the other 
hand, without these rules, forms, regulations, and 
preparations, the organizing faculty ends in mere 
ideas, and shrewd prophetic insight, leading, how- 
ever, to no good result. 



( iSi ) 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWAY 
CARRIAGE. 

THE foregoing essay had been written some 
time ago. It had been printed, and privately 
circulated \ and, to tell the truth, I had almost for- 
gotten its existence, when I was fully reminded of it 
by the following circumstance. 

We authors fancy we seldom hear the truth about 
ourselves, or our productions. Criticism, we think, 
is, for the most part, rather careless, and needs not 
be much attended to. When it is elaborate, if it be 
friendly, we fancy we discern the hand of a friend. 
If hostile, we flatter ourselves that we detect an 
enemy. Not that anybody is blessed with many ene- 
mies who can write elaborate criticisms; but still our 
outraged feelings are apt to insist upon the existence 
of personal dislike when our works are unfavourably 
treated. 

There is one place, however, where we must admit 
that we are likely to hear the truth about ourselves, 
and our productions. The fact is, that Truth has, in 



1 82 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

these latter days, grown tired of living in such a 
damp place as the bottom of a well ; and, moreover, 
like the rest of the world, has become restless, and 
fond of travelling, hither and thither, in a railway 
carriage. At any rate that is where I think I met 
with a great deal of truthful comment on the 
foregoing essay. 

It happened thus. I had taken my place in a 
railway carriage for the North of England, and was 
looking forward with some doubt as to the nature of 
my journey through the long day, which I knew 
would depend much upon the quality, pleasant or 
otherwise, of my companions. I watched them well 
as they took their places in the carriage. Three 
arrived together. One was a middle-aged man, with 
a worn, anxious look, carelessly dressed, partially 
bald, and very weary-looking. I could not help 
thinking that I had seen the face before ; and, care- 
fully interrogating my memory, I recollected that he 
was an influential person at some public office — an 
Under-Secretary of State, or something of that kind ; 
and that he had been present with the minister when 
receiving a deputation of which I had been a 
member. I remembered that he had asked one or 
two very shrewd questions, which were not those we 
were prepared to answer; and that we had quarrelled 



a little amongst ourselves when attempting to answer 
them, which had given the minister a great ad- 
vantage. The other two passengers were, as I after- 
wards found out, lawyers going to the Assizes at . 

One of them was a jovial-looking, rubicund, impera- 
tive man, who is a leading member of the Circuit. 
As will afterwards be seen, he is a man who indulges 
in unmeasured assertions, and whose language on all 
occasions is strong. The other was a very refined 
young man, with a long sharp nose, and a subtle 
expression of countenance, who evidently delighted 
in nice points of difference, and who seemed to think 
that he neglected his duty if he allowed any state- 
ment to pass unquestioned. From his careful mode 
of expression I conjectured that he was one of those 
young lawyers who write a great deal for the higher 
branches of the press \ but he had now got a case at 
the assizes which he much rejoiced to talk over with 
his rubicund friend and leader. There were two 
places left ; and these were soon filled by a lady, 
accompanied by a sickly-looking deformed boy or 
youth (for it was difficult to tell his age) of whom she 
tcok the most tender care. 

The lawyers and the statesman were not accom- 
panied by any friends; and their chief attachments 
seemed to be to their carpet-bags and their luggage. 



1 84 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

Troops of friends, however, came with the lady and 
the sickly youth \ and I observed that on parting she 
contrived to say something pleasant, or hopeful, or 
kindly, to each one of them. The sickly youth 
gazed languidly at his friends in all the apathy of 
sickness, but condescended to give a nod or two, as 
the train moved slowly off. 

The lady, who was of an uncertain age, making us 
doubt whether she was the mother, or the aunt, or 
the sister of the sickly boy, was one of those in whose 
eyes a history may be read. Pleasant and gracious, 
witty and sad, was the expression of her features, 
which were irregularly beautiful. Her voice was 
extremely sweet ; and, instinctively, every one in the 
carriage wished to pay some attention to her, which 
was easily done, by making every arrangement for the 
comfort of the sick youth. 

I thought to myself, something may be made out 
of this party, and the journey will not be dull, espe- 
cially as the eyes of our rubicund friend in the 
corner gleam with an imperious merriment. He will 
be sure to break the ice of silence. I was little 
prepared, however, for what immediately happened. 
The pale young lawyer pulled out of his pocket my 
unfortunate essay; and said to the Statesman, "This 
is the pamphlet which the Serjeant and I were 



CON VERSA TION IN A RAIL IVA Y CARRIA GE. 1 3 5 

talking to you about at dinner yesterday. There are 
lots of things in it to be questioned, as I think, — so 
does the Serjeant: — but your business is Organiza- 
tion ; and when you have skimmed it over, we might 
have some talk about it." " Skimmed it over," said 
I to myself; "and this is the way even the intelligent 
part of the public — men with noses like that — talk of 
productions which have cost us poor devils nights 
and days of anxious thought." 

The " skimming-over " was effected in half an hour 
by the Statesman \ and an animated conversation 
then began, of which I will endeavour to give some 
notion to the reader. As I must distinguish the 
personages, I will call the elder lawyer the " first 
lawyer," and the young man the " second lawyer," as 
we distinguish two bandits in a theatrical piece. The 
Under-Secretary I will call " the Statesman." Then 
there are "the Lady," and "the sickly youth;" and, 
lastly, there is myself, " the Author." 

Second Lawyer. Well, sir, you have skimmed it over 
now. O'f course I did not mean to say that the fellow 
{this is the respectful recognition we have amongst the 
public) was always clear in his ideas. Sometimes his 
organization is active : sometimes it is passive. Some- 
times he merely means a plan ; sometimes a policy : and 
sometimes his organization is only forethought. But there 



1 86 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

is a sort of an idea running through it all, which it might 
be worth while to consider. 

First Lawyer. I would have one of them attached to 
the front of the engine of all the express trains, and no 
damages whatever should be recoverable if he were 
smashed to atoms. 

Second Lawyer. My learned friend is not so precise 
as he would be if he were arguing before Lord Chief 
Justice Cockburn ; but by "them" he certainly means 
railway directors ; and he is evidently thinking of that 
part of the essay which relates to railway organiza- 
tion. 

First Lawyer. The author is quite right when he 
speaks of the want of organization there. The station 
where we shall stop to dine, is a place where no animal 
but an ostrich could get a dinner. The book by which 
we have laboured to ascertain our times of departure and 
arrival, is a conglomeration of hideous confusion, which 
can be likened to nothing but the state of European policy 
at the present moment. If a fire should arise in this very 
carriage, six estimable persons would be needlessly burnt 
alive ; two lawyers, of whose eminence, present and to 
come, it does not become me to speak : one statesman : 
a fair lady who would evidently be missed by a large circle 
of loving friends : an intelligent youth : and a great ship- 
owner, or manufacturer [this he said with a slight bow to 
me ; though why he should have assumed that I was a 
ship-owner or ?nanufacturer, I could not see. I returned 
the bow , merely saying the words " Not great, sir") I 
hope the world would miss us, and that, if we were burnt 
alive, some simple process would be invented by which 



CONVERSA TION IN A RAIL IVA Y CARRIA GE. 187 

the passengers in any carriage could communicate with 
the guard. 

The Author. One of the things most wanted in the 
world is, to bring special knowledge into general use. 

Second Lawyer. I don't see what you mean, or how it 
applies. 

The Author. Well, it will be difficult to explain. But 
what I mean is this : you see a difficulty overcome here, 
by this person ; and you know of various persons here 
and there who are labouring, or who ought to labour, 
against the same difficulty ; and the special know- 
ledge necessary never seems to reach their benighted 
minds. 

I have often fancied I should like to take out a party 
of innkeepers, or a board of directors, on a travelling 
excursion, simply to show them how things are better 
done elsewhere. 

The Statesman. Oh ! if you want to improve the 
administration of railways, I will tell you how to do it. 
Look out for a very ingenious, sickly man, with a large 
family 

The Lady. Poor fellow ! 

The Statesman — And give him 4,000/. a year as an 
inspector of railways. Let him make short reports, in 
good English, of his sufferings on the different railways ; 
specifying names, dates, and every particular. He must 
be bound to travel, occasionally, with his whole family, 
in the depth of winter. 

The Lady. And only to receive 4,000/. a year ? I can- 
not think, sir, that you have had much experience of 
travelling with large families. 



2 88 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

Second Lawyer. But do we not know all about these 
sufferings at present ? 

The Statesman. Not sufficiently in detail. An ordi- 
nary person would be ashamed to describe these minutiae; 
but it must be this man's business. Besides, seriously 
speaking, he would meet with great differences of treat- 
ment. One thing is well managed on this railway, another 
on that. He would be able to praise, as well as to blame. 
There is one railway I know of, on which, to my judgment, 
the coupling of the carriages is not sufficiently attended 
to. There is another railway on which I have never 
found the same fault. My inspector would tell the world 
these things, and an effect would be produced upon the 
traffic of these lines. 

First Lawyer. An official man is always an official 
man, and has a wild belief in the value of reports. Ac- 
cording to him all celestial influences attend Blue Books. 

The Author. Now, here is an instance of an organiza- 
tion proposed. I do not say whether it is wise or unwise, 
feasible or unfeasible ; but it indicates something that 
may be done in the required direction. Did time permit, 
I could give many more instances of the advantages of 
bringing special knowledge to bear. And railway organi- 
zation 

The Statesman. Oh ! railway organization is sure to 
be attended to ultimately, when there have been eight or 
ten great accidents, happening near together in point of 
time, and during the session of parliament — for that is 
imperative. But political and official organization are 
what I confess interest me most. 

The Author, I think you arc right. I maintain that 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. 189 

the world is more foolish now than it ever was. Look at 
France and England going on just like two vulgar people 
in a small town, outbidding each other in frantic expenses. 

First Lawyer. I think I was not so far wrong in putting 
this gentleman down as a ship-owner, or manufacturer — 
probably one of the peace party. 

The Statesman. But yet, sir, you cannot maintain that 
our war expenditure is needless, and that our ministers 
are wrong in urging on the national defences ? 

The Author. I do not say that they are wrong. If I 
were in their place, I have no doubt I should do as they do. 
But I maintain that, if there were skilful political organi- 
zation in the great European family of nations, or even 
if there were skilful organization among the more intelli- 
gent men of each individual country (for they are all 
against war), this ruinous armed peace would have more 
chance of being brought to an end in our time. 

Second Lawyer. Then you have read the pamphlet, sir ? 

The Author. Yes. It has been lying about upon our 
table at home, and I have often taken it up. 

The Lady. It hardly becomes me to put. in a word 
amongst you learned gentlemen ; but I must say, for the 
honour of our sex, that if we had the management of 
affairs, we should not spend quite so much money as you 
gentlemen do upon warlike engines. Charles tells me 
[who is Charles, L wonder f I hate Charles] that one of 
these iron vessels costs 400,000/. We women should think 
a great deal, and perhaps talk a little, before we expended 
that sum 

First Lawyer — In anything but fancy goods, madam. 
( We all laughed.) 



190 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

The Lady. Well, there would at any rate be something 
beautiful to show for our money. 

Second Lawyer. And do you think you would long 
delight in these " fancy goods " my learned friend speaks 
of, if there were not some of these dark floating creatures 
to defend the fancy goods, and the fair wearers thereof? 

The Lady. I do not 'know. I am sure, though, we 
should not spend the money so recklessly as you do. We 
should keep more of it to buy tea and sugar with, and to 
improve our homes. The ladies in France would do the 
same, and so it would come to the same thing in the end. 

Second Lawyer. You mean, madam, that both nations 
would be equally unprepared for defence, and that both 
nations would be far more comfortable, if the women had 
the management of affairs. 

First Lawyer. I am sure, madam, you do manage us. 

The Lady. No. You get away from us, and talk all 
night in parliament, and vote away our money without 
our having anything to say to it ; and then come back 
again and say how much you have worked for your country. 

First Lawyer. There is no arguing with a lady. She 
overcomes us at all points. 

The Statesman. What a theme the present troubles in 
America * would have given the Author to show the want 
of organization ! All the mischief there has risen from 
disorganization, political, social, military. If there had 
been an organized policy on the part of the North, war 
might never have been. 

Second Lawyer. There, permit me to say, sir, you fall 
into the error of the Author. You mean that if there had 
* This was wiitten in 1862. 



CON VERS A TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARRIAGE. 191 

been a profound and logical statement of the nature of the 
dispute, and of the remedies to be aimed at, war might 
have been prevented. But that is not organization. 

The Author. I do not know. It is the result of organi- 
zation, and it is the organization of thought. 

The Statesman. Well, never mind the Author. He 
must take care of himself against the critics. But, to 
return to the subject. I admit that the Northern Ameri- 
cans have shown great want of organization ; but that has 
not been their only, or perhaps their chief fault. Now, 
look at their wonderful boastfulness. There was a sentence 
in the President's last speech, that I think is, without 
exception, the most boastful and absurd I ever read in 
any public document. I have read not a few Blue Books, 
and assisted in the compounding of not a few of them ; 
but I never read anything like this. 

Second Lawyer. Well, what is " this ? " 

The Statesman. The President said that in many of 
his regiments there were men fit to form a Cabinet, a 
Council, a Congress — perhaps even a Court. Now, from 
my position, I have seen a good many of the men who 
do form Cabinets, and Councils, and Congresses ; and 
even of those who are in no great estimation with the 
public, the majority are rather remarkable personages. 
In looking round upon the men of our year [nodding to 
the SerJeant]aX Oxford, you probably find only one or two 
fit to be in a Cabinet, a Council, a Congress, or even to 
adorn a Court ; and yet an American regiment of volun- 
teers is to furnish complete Councils, Cabinets, and Con- 
gresses. The absurdity is " tempestuous " as Sir Charles 
Wetherall would have said. I felt, when I read that 



192 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

sentence of the President's, that much evil must come 
upon a people whose chief magistrate could utter such 
wild nonsense, unrebuked. If there were any British 
statesman so absurd as to endeavour to put such a sen- 
tence before the chief personage in the land, to be uttered 
by her, we all must feel that there would be a refusal to 
utter it. And yet, no doubt the Queen has as high an 
opinion of her regiments as the President can justly have 
of his. 

First Lawyer. You are quite right. The absurdity 
is gigantic. 

The Statesman. Future historians will ask why there 
was not more sympathy in England with the Northern 
Americans at the present crisis. We care a great deal 
about slavery : we naturally feel much for a people speak- 
ing our own language, and having many of our own modes 
of thinking : there are, in short, hundreds of ties between 
the two peoples : but their boasting has disgusted, and, 
to a certain extent, alienated us. 

Moreover, however much we were disposed to sympa- 
thize with the North, we could not approve of, nor adopt, 
their language in speaking of the South. We did not 
think that " rebels " was the right word to apply to the 
men of the South ; and we could not imagine that a union 
would ever be cemented by conquest. 

The Atithor. The Americans are mistaken if they 
suppose that there are not a great many persons in 
England, who feel the deepest, and most painful interest 
in the present hideous contest. For my own part, I could 
sit down, and mourn, and utter doleful Jeremiads with- 
out end. 



CONFERS A TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARR1A GE. 193 

But, to tell the truth, my sorrowing is not so much for 
the combatants, or for the present generation : they have 
their amusement, and their excitement. My grief is for 
poor people in the future, who will know, as we know, the 
full bitterness of large taxation. It was a comfort to 
think that there was at least one people on the earth to 
whom the tax-gatherer was not a terror ; — who, after the 
death of a head of a family , were not to see their mother's 
trinkets and their father's old familiar watch appraised, in 
order to ascertain to the minutest farthing the personal 
property which the deceased had possessed. We have 
become accustomed to these things ; but they are horrors. 
And what are they but the results of the great wars of 
former generations ? 

The eminent Americans we have seen in this country 
have, for the most part, been persons who would be likely 
to give a very favourable impression of their country. 
Such men as Mr. Sumner, Mr. Everett, Mr. Bancroft, 
Mr. Emerson, Mr. Ticknor, Mr. Motley, Mr. Hawthorne, 
would do honour to any country. But, somehow or other, 
you do not in American state papers see many traces of 
these men. 

Then, as regards the eminent authoress we have seen 
here, Mrs. Stowe : Was there ever a more gentle or 
pleasant lioness ? At least, from what I have heard, con- 
sidering her astounding success, coming all at once and 
suddenly upon her, she bore her honours most meekly. 

The Second Lawyer. Even as regards ordinary Ameri- 
cans, such as you meet abroad travelling, I think you 
cannot fail to be struck with their good-nature, even when 
they commence blowing their tiresome national trumpet. 

13 



194 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

It is the boastfulness of young people. One thinks of 
that saying about " a young bear with all its troubles to 
come ; " and now these troubles have come upon the 
nation. 

First Lawyer. Who ever invented that saying about 
the young bear ? and why should a bear have more 
troubles than the rest of the animal family ? There's a 
question for an examination paper. 

Author. I am sure I can get some marks then for an 
answer. The proverb, no doubt, arose in bear-baiting 
times. We, having become more humane, have lost our 
appreciation of the proverb. 

Second Lawyer. Well, in talking over the matter, 
we have become quite tolerant as regards individual 
Americans. 

The Author. I think you were somewhat hard upon 
the disposition of the Americans, even as gathered from 
their state papers. The rest of the world are quite as 
absurd ; only more measured in talk and more decorous. 
I go back to the reckless expenditure upon armies among 
all the chief nations in Europe. 

• Second Lawyer. You know the theory of some learned 
divine, that the human race goes mad at times, and, of 
course, like other mad people, does not suspect its own 
madness. 

The Author. Yes ; and some other 'ingenious person 
has maintained that this madness has generally prevailed 
in the middle of centuries. 

The Statesman. Oh ! that's too absurd : recollect the 
French Revolution. I am quite willing to admit the 
previous proposition. 



CONFERS A TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARRIA GE. 195 

The Author. It is in one of its warlike madnesses 
now. And when this is the case, and when great poten- 
tates possess huge armies, you feel that, if this difficult 
question, or that complication of affairs, were by good 
fortune to be amicably Settled, the main cause of terror 
would still remain. 

Have you ever been in the West Indies ? {They answered 
in the negative^ Well, you take a solitary walk there ; 
and, looking over the imbrowned plain, you cannot dis- 
cern a living creature. No wood is near : no sheltering 
crags. The air is hideously still, perhaps before some 
coming hurricane. A snake glides out from under a 
stone ; and, with instinctive fear, and the aversion which 
there is between man and that reptile, you strike it with 
your stick. It lies dying on the ground. If you are a 
denizen of those regions, you look round upon the whole 
horizon for something to come : and it does come. Slowly, 
from a distant point, there rises a hideous, ungainly bird, 
the gallinazo, which, wheeling round in circles, swoops 
down upon the snake almost before you have had time to 
move away. 

That is just to my. mind what there is at present in the 
politics of the world. At the stillest moment, on the 
smallest cause of encounter, wherever there is the slightest 
prospect of misfortune, this obscene bird of war is ready 
to sweep down upon the spot. Its perception of prey is 
super-human : it is sure to be present where there is any, 
the least, hope of evil. 

Second Lawyer. Yes, sir, but how is this evil to be 
prevented ? What is the good of pretending peace when 
there is no peacefulness ? 



196 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

The Author. I tell you what will happen some day. 
If scientific men really give their minds to the destruction 
of their fellow-creatures, they will invent something which 
will throw all your Armstrong guns into shade. I believe 
in the virtues of Lord Dundonald's discovery. If I had 
made any similar discovery, I really think I should have 
told it openly to the world, in the hope that the easy 
destructibility of human beings might put a stop to this 
mania for destruction. Some day there will come the 
knowledge of the means of creating a pestilence. 

Second Lawyer. This is a pleasant look-out for the 
human race. But I am by no means sure that this 
gentleman is not right. I should be sorry, Serjeant, to 
be tempted with the knowledge of some vapour which 
could destroy, in a moment, all my seniors at the bar. 
I suppose, though, I should never use it, for fear of its 
being used against me by my juniors ; and the knowledge 
that there was such a vapour in everybody's power would 
make everybody very civil to everybody else. 

The Author. You will think me, perhaps, a very 
fanciful and romantic person ; but my wonder is, and 
always has been, that our knowledge of astronomy, only 
gained in comparatively modern times, has not dwarfed 
and crushed ambition. It is such a little bit of a thing, 
this earth. What is there to make one desirous, wading 
through fire and water and blood, to reign over any part 
of it ? It was different when men believed it to be the 
abode of gods and demi-gods, and that it was the only 
created thing of any magnitude. 

Sickly Youth. Sirius is said to be about a million of 
miles in diameter : {the lady looked at him very proudly). 



CONVERSA TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARR1A GE. 197 

The Author. Yes, it is. But I would also rely upon 
other facts and conjectures. You see, it is now conjectured 
that there have been a series of deluges, and that there 
will be, at no very distant time, a sweeping off again of 
us little, cantankerous, quarrelsome men into the depths 
of the sea. 

The Lady. Pardon me for repeating that, if we women 
ruled affairs, even if we did not know these learned con- 
clusions (and certainly I never knew them before to-day), 
we should not be so quarrelsome as you gentlemen are : 
for are we not more prudent and homely? 

First Lawyer [turning to me). Bless my heart, sir ; 
some two or three thousand people know what you and 
I know about these scientific matters, and you suppose 
that such an inconsiderable number can influence the 
whole world. 

Second Lawyer. I do not know why they should not. 

The Author. If there were organization- 

The Statesman. The week's business is enough for the 
week : and, as to looking much further, that is what neither 
statesmen nor stockbrokers ever do. 

The Author. That is just what I complain of; and 
what I believe this writer is aiming at. 

Second Lawyer. You seem always to be ready to 
defend the writer. You must be a great friend of his. 
Do you know him ? 

The Author. A little. But I am anything but a friend 
of his ; — one of his worst enemies ; — perhaps his chief one. 

The Statesman. Well, I see we should never agree on 
these great subjects which he has suggested to us ; but I 
do thoroughly agree with what he says about the organi- 



198 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

zation of pleasure. The head of my office once said, 
" Life would be very tolerable if it were not for its pleasures." 
Is not that a witty saying ; and so true ? By the way, I 
don't think you would get such a brilliant mot out of any 
of these American regiments that are to furnish Councils, 
and Cabinets, and Congresses. 

Second Lawyer. And perhaps Courts. Do not forget that. 

First Lawyer. I, too, think the part about pleasure 
not bad. But this lady, like the rest of her sex, is, I doubt 
not, one of the guilty persons in the great offence of 
making pleasure so uncomfortable. Pray, madam, why 
do you all crowd your parties in the way you do ? Why 
do you have a dancing-tea at which one cannot dance ? 

Second Lawyer. Yes, madam, I must follow on the 
same side. Why do you have a dancing-tea at which my 
learned friend cannot dance, I ask ? 

The Lady. I can answer that question. It is because 
you gentlemen make business enter into all pleasures. 
" If you ask the So-and-soes, my dear, you must ask the 
Thises and the Thats." The obedient wife does ask the 
Thises and the Thats ; and there is an unpleasant crowd. 

First Lawyer. Upon my word, madam, there is no 
use in arguing with you. You always conquer us, else, 
perhaps, I could say something about dress. 

Lady. Pray say it, sir ; or rather pray do not say it, 
for I think I know pretty well all that you will say. The 
truth is, we are foolish ; you are foolish ; everybody, I 
believe, is foolish in dress : and the silliest people in the 
world guide us all in this matter, and set the fashions. 

First Lawyer. Well, madam, you have at least made 
a candid confession. 



CONVERSA TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARRIA GE. 199 

But I see that, while we have been talking, you have 
been looking at the essay. What do you think of it ? 

Lady. There is a great deal I don't understand ; but 
there is one thing I like, and that is, that the author 
always takes his examples from common life. I can't 
help fancying that I was at that great festivity he speaks 
of where it was so difficult to get away. I had two gentle- 
men to assist me, and they were four hours hunting after 
the carriage ; and at last they did not find it, but I found 
it myself. 

First Lawyer. Dark carriage, of course, ma'am ? Now 
if you had had cream-colour picked out with red, you 
would have found it in a quarter of an hour. 

Lady. Yes ; but one would be so stared at in such a 
carriage. 

First Lawyer. It may be unfortunate for you, ma'am ; 
but you will always be stared at. {Here he gave a self- 
satisfied smile, as if he felt that he had now said a really 
pretty thing: we laughed, and the lady blushed and 
smiled?) 

The Author (addressing the lady). I am sure the 
essayist would be much obliged to you for your approval 
of common instances. I, too, am quite with him and 
with you in this matter. What is the good of bringing 
in Hannibal and the Alps, or the battle of Marathon, the 
choice of Hercules, or the retreat of the Ten Thousand, 
to illustrate something which can be well shown by Hodge 
in the hay-field ? 

What grand examples have been brought forward to 
illustrate the intense intolerance of human nature ! the 
fate of the Waldenses ; the Albigenses ; the Lollards ; the 



200 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

Wickliffites ! None of them afford so good an instance 
as a simple story I know about mustard, which I have 
heard told at dinner-tables amidst roars of laughter. 

Statesman. Pray tell it us, sir. 

First Lawyer. A good story is one of the blessings 
of life. 

The Author. A good story once, I think, saved my life. 

Second Lawyer. This is wandering from the subject. 

First Lawyer. Oh, hang the subject ! You clever 
young men are so pedantic. 

The Author. Well, I will not tell the story myself, but 
will describe another person telling it — the witty and 
scientific L . 

He would ask us, generally at dinner time, a propos of 
mustard, whether we had heard his story about that much 
approved condiment. Those who had not heard it said 
" No/' and begged to hear it ; and those who had heard 
it, clamoured to hear it again. Upon this he would send 
the servant for a Times newspaper, and, when he had got 
it, would thus begin : — 

We are at a coffee-house. You, Jones [choosing some 
one who had heard the story before\ are having your 
dinner brought upon the table — a juicy beefsteak. I 
have just finished mine at the same table. I look off 
from my paper, and pass the mustard to you. You must 
always decline. 

L . Mustard, sir ? 

Jones. Thank you {but does not take it). 

L {Looking baffle 'd, and cross , reads on a little). 

You will take mustard, sir ? 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. 201 

Jones. No, thank you, I don't. 

L {After more impatient reading, and glancing 

round his paper to peep at Jones). Most persons take 
mustard, sir, with beefsteak. 

Jones. I seldom or never do, sir. 

L- (Attempts to get interested in a railway accident 

and mutters — " Three lives lost — the stoker escaped by a 
miracle. No blame can be attached to any of the officers 

of the Company." L continues to look round his paper 

over and over again at Jones. At last he exclaims 
angrily :) It is a most extraordinary thing, sir, not to eat 
mustard with beefsteak. / never did such a thing in 
my life. 

Jones (calmly). Perhaps not. 

L (Turns to his paper, and attempts again to read, 

but manifests a state of strong excitement. Once or twice 
he stretches out his hand, and withdraws it again. At 
last he can bear it no longer. He throws down the Times ; 
and, taking up the mustard-pot, exclaims :) Damn it, sir, 
you must and shall have mustard ! (and he daubs Jones's 
plate over with it). 

The company, servants and all, are convulsed with 

laughter, and L resumes his dinner with all the air 

of a triumphant anecdote-teller after a great success. 

Now, I ask you, is not that the best story to illustrate 
the intense intolerance of human nature you ever heard ? 
Have you not all found that everybody is anxious to force 
his mustard upon your beef, whether you like it or not ? 
That story contains eighty-three sermons. 

First Lawyer. And a hundred and thirty-five essays. 



202 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

Author. And two hundred charges to the Grand Jury. 
But now I will be as serious as you like, and go back into 
the subject, and please this gentleman. 

The Lady. I believe it is I who deserve to be scolded 
as the cause of this digression, in praising the author for 
having taken his instances from common life. 

The Statesman. There are some instances which he 
has failed to take, and which, to my mind, would have 
been better than any he has taken. 

The Ordnance Survey ought to have been given as an 
admirable instance of organization. 

First Lawyer. Stop. Let us each give an instance. 
{We all agreed) Well, I say nowhere is organization 
more wanted than at a public meeting. All goes wrong 
if two or three clever fellows have not met before, and 
drawn up all the resolutions, with a paper of agenda for 
the chairman. At the meeting everything must go like 
clock-work. Who is to propose, and who is to second, a 
resolution, must be absolutely settled. There must be no 
detestable modesty of people conspicuously bowing to one 
another, and saying, " No, sir, not I : I am not of im- 
portance enough in the county," &c. &c. The meeting 
must go off swiftly and cheerfully ; and that can only be 
done by previous organization. 

The Author. Very true. I will give you another 
instance — a wedding breakfast. Even that miserable 
transaction may be made to go off well, if the proceedings 
have been well arranged beforehand, and there are no 
dreary intervals allowed for tears. 

The Lady. Then, a musical party. How that mostly 
fails for want of some despotic person to arrange before- 



CONVERSATION IN A RAIIWA Y CARRIAGE. 203 

hand everything that shall be done, so that there may be 
no weak consultations round the piano, or wishes ex- 
pressed that there had been some "part music" there 
which is not there. 

Second Lawyer, And a consultation at a leading coun- 
sel's chambers. 

First Lawyer. No, no : we won't have any reference to 
the shop : but it is not a bad instance though. 

Sickly Youth. And a paper-chase at school over diffi- 
cult country. 

First Lawyer. Well done, my man : yours is a very 
good instance : and I tell you this, — that the boy who 
had run well across country, and had shown great judg- 
ment in baffling his pursuers at a paper-chase, should 
have a lot of marks for it at any examination at 
Woolwich, if I were an examiner. But I am afraid, 
my good fellow, you would have been rather out of 
place at such a run. 

Sickly Youth. I was always consulted, though, by the 
" foxes " beforehand ; and so I got the nickname of " the 
lame old fox." 

First Lawyer. Well, we have all given our instances ; 
and they are not to be despised, I think. 

But now, if you will allow me, I will take up another 
part of the essay, and tell you something that Sir Wm. 
Follett once said to me. Give me the book. This is the 
passage : it is where the author is speaking of the qualities 
of a good organizer. " It must take some time to ascer- 
tain of any man that he is clear and constant in his main 
purpose, and is not to be led away from it by the dexterous 
fulfilment of smaller ends and aims." 



20 4 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

I doubt whether the man himself sees all that there is 
in that passage. 

The Author. Why should he not have seen it, as this 
passage suggested the idea to you ? But perhaps he did 
not. However, what did Sir Wm. Follett say ? 

First Lawyer. " Remember that every piece of busi- 
ness is involved in difficulties, and that a great difference 
between a good and a bad legal practitioner consists in the 
ability or disability to estimate the practical value of the 
difficulties, and to dismiss from his thoughts those that he 
does not feel to be of practical importance." 

The Statesman. It is wonderfully good ; and all the 
more so, that it seems but commonplace. The sense of 
proportion is wanting in most of our minds when we come 
to deal with difficulties. 

The Author. I am entirely with you. Three difficulties 
are started. Two of them, perhaps, are practically unim- 
portant, but we are apt to think that they are respectively 
equal in value to the third, because each of them takes up 
as much room in our mind at the moment as the third 
does. The two difficulties, which may be unimportant in 
life, are important, logically speaking ; and so sometimes 
they have a most unjustifiable hold upon us. 

The Statesman. Yes, a great business is delayed some- 
times because some difficult point, which is in every sense 
but a point, cannot be settled. 

First Lawyer. I have known an expense of several 
pounds incurred in replying to a requisition that the 
title to. a rent should be proved strictly, the rent being 
one penny a year for less than ninety-nine years, and 
forming, by accident, part of a large property which was 



CONVERSATION IN A RAIIWAY CARRIAGE. 205 

to be mortgaged. These things are the opprobrium of 
law. 

The Author. No, no ; you are too hard upon law. I 
would rather say these things are the opprobrium of life, 
for we are all greatly deficient in that just sense of pro- 
portion which this gentleman insisted upon. 

States7nan. I have something to say on the general 
subject, which has struck me : it is not deep, but I think 
it is important. The writer leads us naturally to consider 
various kinds of organization. Now it appears to me, 
after going over several notorious instances of mal-organi- 
zation, that the error consists in not having considered 
from the first what a serious thing organization is. " Oh ! 
that will do for the beginning," men say ; " we can alter 
afterwards." But they don't alter afterwards ; and the 
organization grinds on ; assumes a powerful name ; be- 
comes a great system almost before you are aware : and 
it is very difficult to make the thing ungrind. 

Author. Ah ! the beginning of everything is solemn. 
Now I am delighted to find — I am afraid I shall be 
scolded by this gentleman for wandering again from the 
point — but I say I am delighted to find that poets and 
painters are discovering that the break of day is not 
joyous, but, rather, awful. "Jocund" is not a good 
adjective for morn. 

"Advancing, strewed the earth with orient pearls." 

What are the lines, young gentleman ? [turns to the sickly 
youth.] You know them, I daresay — that's the advantage 
of being young ; one has learnt everything lately. 



206 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

Sickly Youth. 

' ' Now Morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime 
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearls." 

not " strewed " but " sow'd." 

Author. Instead of all that, the morn seems to me to 
come in so mournfully. There are the slight, streaky 
clouds, that are to become ominous in an hour or two, and 
are to fall in the course of the next twelve hours : through- 
out nature there is an unpleasant, nervous stillness : there 
is a depressing blankness of colour : and, altogether, the 
day seems to be saying, " Here am I, about to bring 
much trouble and tribulation to most persons, and a little 
content — only to those who are already contented." 

Statesman. You don't take a cheerful view of life, sir. 

First Lawyer. I would rather go back to the essay, I 
think. What do you say, madam ? 

Lady. We ladies are generally said to like what is 
sentimental and melancholy ; but I am quite contented to 
go back to the essay. 

Second Lawyer. One of the great difficulties under 
which it will labour, as regards popular acceptation, is, 
that most people are so apt to connect organization, in 
their minds, with centralization. Now, of course, a man 
may organize with a view to decentralization. 

The Author. I think, sir, the author should feel very 
grateful to you for pointing out a misconception which is 
very likely to arise. 

First Lawyer. I think, however, the author would not 
be so much obliged to my learned friend for pointing out, 
as he did at the beginning of the conversation, that when 
the author speaks of organization, the simple word " plan " 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. 207 

might as well have been used. For my own part, I feel 
that some part of the essay (and the part I like best) 
might simply be resolved into this — that men do not ask 
themselves what they mean by doing a thing. It is so 
often that they imitate, when they should act indepen- 
dently. Now I will take you into a subject which has 
apparently little to do with what we have been discussing ; 
but yet I can see that the author, in one particular 
instance, has had it in his mind. I take Colour as my 
subject. It has always appeared to me that, especially in 
this country, colours are laid on without any view to the 
purposes for which they are used. You see everywhere 
the darkest colours employed, where light colours should 
be chosen if there were any reasoning at all upon the 
subject. Now a light colour wears best, and is the most 
distinguishable ; yet you will find that dark colours are 
greatly used for boundaries, which of course are better the 
more distinguishable they are. This is the case with the 
palisading of all our great towns. I believe, if you were 
to examine into the cause, it would be nothing more or 
less than fashion. Oddly enough, the idea of gentility has 
been associated with darkness of colour, and this idea has 
pervaded the whole country. Much, therefore, of* what 
the essayist has been protesting against, is merely the 
result of people continuing to do something without a 
sufficient reason. 

The Statesman. The passport system which he alluded 
to, is a good instance of that. By the way, the essay 
must have been written some time ago, at least before the 
French Emperor took such a wise step as he did towards 
abolishing passports. 



208 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

Second Lawyer. And before the American President 
introduced them. 

The Author. I agree with much of what these learned 
gentlemen have said : indeed, I have always maintained 
that half the work of the world is useless ; that it cannot 
give a good account of itself, if subjected to severe 
scrutiny. My idea of organization would be to diminish 
much of this useless work. I always think of the boy * 
who was employed at certain intervals to open a valve, or 
shut a valve, or something of that kind, in some compli- 
cated machinery ; and who found that by attaching a 
string to two pieces of the machinery the purpose was 
effected, and he was left to play at marbles. There is a 
result of skilful organization in the saving of trouble. 

The State S7nan. Of course a thing may be elaborate 
but yet mal-organized. That is the case with pleasures. 
You see, I like to return to that branch of the subject. 
The pains taken about pleasure are excessive : the results 
are dolorous. 

Now, there is a great fuss being made about the ques- 
tion of education just at present. It is one of the subjects 
omitted, or rather slightly treated, by the essayist, and 
yet perhaps it opens the widest field for wise organi- 
zation. 

The Author. It is a bold thing in me to say ; but 
I do think there are the most enormous errors afloat about 
education. 

Second Lawyer. There must be enormous errors in a 

* The Author had forgotten that he had used this illustration 
in the essay, but it was not noticed. 



CONVERSA TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARR1A GE. 209 

subject which is the greatest in the world except war ; 
and it is not likely that mankind have hit off the right 
thing at once. But pray tell us, sir, any one of these 
large errors. 

The Author: Well, I think, then, that we misconstrue 
the results that we get from inspection and examination. 
I will explain what I mean. 

You must all have read or heard of the answer which 
was given by a child of eleven years of age to the question 
" What is thy duty towards thy neighbour ? " 

First Lawyer? Oh yes, I remember laughing heartily 
over it. I have forgotten the words though. 

The Author. I think I can recollect the first part of it. 
" My dooty tords my nabers, is to love him as thyself, and 
to do to all men as I wed thou shall do und to me, to love, 
onner, and suke my farther and mother, to onner and to 
bay the Quee'n, and all that are pet in a forty under her, 
to smit myself to all my goones, teachers, sportial pastures 
and marsters." 

Now, I have studied that answer very carefully, and I 
maintain that there is no reason for thinking that the 
child did not understand its duty towards its neighbour 
very well, — as well, perhaps, as the witty and accom- 
plished inspector who examined the child. Consider the 
words. When the child said that it was its duty "to 
onner and to bay the Queen, and all that are pet in a 
forty under her," don't you think that the child had 
sufficient knowledge in that matter for all practical pur- 
poses ? Omit the words " in a forty," which perhaps 
conveyed but a dim idea of " in authority " to the child, 
is there not enough left to show that the child understood 

14 



210 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

that it was to obey the Queen and the clergyman of the 
parish, and the neighbouring justice of the peace, and the 
parish constable ? Again, when it used the words, " spor- 
tial pastures and marsters," do you doubt that it included 
the master of the school ; and so on, throughout ? The 
main sense of the passage may have been thoroughly in 
the child's mind. 

The Statesman. The vice of the age is an .unwholesome 
belief in examinations. 

The Author, I am rather disposed to agree with you. 

Second Lawyer. I don't : I believe examinations have 
already done a great deal of good. 

The Author. Now I am going to ask you all a question, 
and I hope you will give me a true answer. 

The Lady. That would be a large promise to make, 
sir. 

Second Lawyer. Well, I daresay we shall answer it 
truly, if it is not a very unpleasant question. 

The Author. When you were very juvenile, and were 
asked " Who was the father of Zebedee's children ? " did 
you answer the question directly, or, indeed, could you 
answer it at all ? 

Now I do not believe that I am inferior to the average 
of mankind. They think a good deal of me in my parish : 
and I was very near being made a justice of the peace. 
I am a Tithing-man, if you know what that is, which 
is more than I do, though I hold the office. [They all 
laughed.'] 

Well, I confess that when a burly man dressed in 
black, with a huge bunch of seals dangling from his fob 
(for that was the fashion in my young days), called me to 



CON VERS A TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARRIA GE. 211 

him, unfortunately just after my fond father had been 
praising my remarkable abilities, and in a pompous voice 
said, " Well, young gentleman, and who was the father of 
Zebedee's children?" I was nonplussed. I turned over 
in my juvenile mind everything I had read and heard 
about Zebedee ; but this important fact respecting the 
paternity of Zebedee's children had hitherto escaped my 
attention. I thought it was a very deep question. I 
imagined that I must be shamefully ignorant of Scripture 
history. I was mortified ; my father looked mortified ; 
and I slunk away as a little ignoramus who had been 
much overpraised by a fond parent. Now did any of you 
fare any better ? 

First Lawyer. I am not sure that I could answer the 
question now ; but I have no doubt that I disgraced 
myself when it was asked me some fifty years ago. 

Second Lawyer. And I too. 

The Statesman. And I. 

The Author. And you, madam ? 

The Lady. I believe I answered it. 

The Author. Well, but you women are so prema- 
turely clever : as Henry Taylor says, you grow on the 
sunny side of the wall. If you were asked the question 
at eleven years of age, you were equal to us at fourteen. 

Well, young gentleman, and you ? 

Sickly Youth. Oh ! I didn't. 

The Author. It appears that a large majority of us 
ought to be very tender and tolerant in considering any 
answers made by children of eleven years of age. 

But, to consider the matter more seriously, I repeat 
that I quite agree with this gentleman (the Statesman) 



212 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

about the over weight given to examinations in modern 
times. Take your own craft : do you think that you would 
have found out the exact merits of Lord Palmerston, 
Lord Russell, Lord Granville, Lord Derby, Mr. Disraeli, 
and Mr. Gladstone by examination ? Do you think they 
would have held their proper places in an examination ? 

The Statesman. They would not have been low down. 

Second Lawyer. I am not sure of that. 

The Author. Nor I : there is a certain indocility in 
the minds of men who have much in them. But what I 
mean is much more than that. Mr. Carlyle has said 
that Genius consists in an immense 'capacity for taking 
trouble. 

First Lawyer. That is against you : those who succeed 
in examinations have taken a great deal of trouble. 

Second Lawyer. Decidedly. 

The Author. Ah ! but I don't mean to abide by his 
definition : I mean to carry the definition a step or two 
higher. I say that it consists in an immense capacity 
for taking interest ; and, when applied to statesmanship, 
in taking interest in many things. Also, in courage. 

Now, where was the source of Pitt's greatness ? Surely 
there were many men of his day a great deal cleverer 
than he was : but few there were who felt so deeply for 
England, or cared so much for any matter that they had 
in hand. 

Circumstances which I need not mention, made me 
early acquainted with Pitt's mode of working. It was 
intense. It is quite true, as stated in the essay, that he 
would shut himself up for hours with a bill, and the men 
who knew anything about it ; and so he would master 



CON VERS A TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARRIA GE. 213 

the bill. I maintain that you cannot find out this spirit 
in a man by examination. And how, I would ask, can 
you find out about a man's courage by examination ? 
And courage, moral courage, is one of the highest and 
rarest qualities in the transaction even of ordinary busi- 
ness. 

First Lawyer, I don't agree with you at all. This 
capacity for taking interest, and this courage, I contend, 
are to some extent shown in the acquisition of knowledge. 
Well, then, I say the knowledge in itself is valuable. 
Consider what little time any of us have, after our first 
youth, for learning anything. 

Of course, you don't find out the whole nature of a man 
by examining him in French, Latin, History, or Mathe- 
matics ; but you find out something which in my judgment 
requires to be found out. 

In no service will the advantage of this system of 
examination be more discernible than in the army. 

I believe that already I can see great improvement 
there among the young men. 

The Author. Well, all I can say is, that the system 
requires to be very carefully watched. We must not 
suppose that the whole man is found out by an examina- 
tion. Success in an examination must not be allowed to 
have too much influence afterwards. 

First Lawyer. It will not. In life, men favour others 
according as they find them serviceable. Attorneys do 
not ask whether I took honours, or not, but whether there 
is a chance of my getting a verdict. To myself, it is a 
great advantage that I learnt a little mathematics when I 
was young, in order to get a good place at an examination. 



214 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION: 

I am sure I should never have known anything about 
them otherwise. 

Second Lawyer, But now, to come back to organiza- 
tion, — for I am always bringing you back to that subject, 
— what are its functions in social matters, such as educa- 
tion and sanitary work. 

The Author. Well, the main functions are clear. There 
are things which government can do, and ought to do, 
and which individuals, or small communities, cannot. 
You must so organize as to contrive that local authori- 
ties shall not hang upon the government, and that govern- 
ment shall do its own especial work, which may justly be 
very small, and yet may be most important. 

The Statesman. This is a little vague, sir. 

The Author. Try me in any particular instance. 

The Statesman. There is a sudden outbreak of fever in 
a town. 

The Author. Well, if there is anything remarkable 
about it, the government may send down to inspect, and 
then aid the town with that special knowledge which 
must be greatest at the centre of affairs. But upon the 
local authority must be thrown the responsibility of re- 
moving the causes of the fever, if those causes can be 
discovered. 

One of the greatest triumphs of organization must be 
justly to divide governmental from local action. 

The Statesman. But, in education what do you say ? 

The Author. I merely say this, that the want of 
education is a want which can never be so easily perceived 
by the mass of men as the want of good air, good water, 
and good drainage. And therefore, there requires just 



CONFERS A TION IN A RAIL WA Y CARRIA GE. 215 

that degree of additional governmental aid which would 
counterbalance the additional difficulty created by the 
want of perception of the good to be aimed at, or the evil 
to be avoided. 

The Statesman. I believe this is all true ; but how 
difficult it is to work up to these nice boundaries in 
practice. The moment you have any system organized, 
it is eager to extend beyond its just boundaries. 

The Author. Then that is spurious organization ; or 
rather it is organization which is incomplete because it 
does not provide the necessary checks upon its own 
action. You come at last to this : that if you would 
rightly organize anything which has life in it, such as a 
community of men, you must have a living organization 
which can vary, withhold, or rescind all that is merely 
formulary, and that depends solely upon rules. When a 
monarchy, or a republic, or a church, or a system of 
education, falls into decay, it is because the organization 
has not been renewed from the fountain of its being, and 
is partially a dead thing. It is imitative and formal, not 
creative. If it grows it is but in one direction : it is dead 
somewhere. Why do these railways fail, which this 
learned gentleman is so bitter against ? Because there 
is not enough of new mind thrown into the working of 
them. 

Second Lawyer. There is one idea which this essayist 
seems never to have entertained ; namely, that organiza- 
tion may be used for very bad purposes, and that the 
growth and success of one form of organization may be 
fatal to many others that would have been preferable 
to it. 



216 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

The Statesman. He must have thought of that : it is 
as obvious as daylight. All the great tyrannies that have 
arisen in the world, whether priestly, imperial, or demo- 
cratic, have all arisen from some one department of 
human affairs being well organized, and being surrounded 
by feeble organisms. 

First Lawyer. The press furnishes another in- 
stance. 

The Author. Yes : if you were to have a predominant 
newspaper in a colony, supremely well organized, of course 
its tendency would be most dangerous. There would be 
so little established that could check it. 

The Statesman. The danger from the press, not so 
much to freedom of thought, as to independence of 
thought, is most formidable everywhere. 

First Lawyer. The hardship to individuals is frightful 
to contemplate. 

I was engaged in a case some time ago in which a 
good, simple, trusting individual, my client, had been 
done out of 600/. or 700/. In some way the case came 
before the courts, though I believe my client would have 
been delighted to pay the money for the experience, and 
never to have heard a word more about the matter. In 
two or three days' time out came a flaming article in a 
leading journal, taking for its text the innocent folly of 
my trustful client. I could not help feeling what an over- 
severe punishment it was. 

Second Lawyer. Yes. I hold with the nigger who 
said "If preachy, preachy ; if floggy, floggy : but not 
preachy and floggy too, Massa.'' 

The Author. That is exactly it. A poor devil now 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. 217 

gets both " preachy " and " floggy " too, even for an inno- 
cent blunder. 

I was very much struck the other day, in taking up a 
newspaper, to see that three out of four of the leading 
articles were comments upon private persons, and private 
affairs. This will gradually become a thorough invasion 
of the liberty of the subject. I am quite of the opinion of 
a man who is said by those who know him, to be one of 
the wisest of our generation. 

" I should hate," he said, " in short, to live in a land 
where men should act in multitudes, and think in multi- 
tudes, and be free in multitudes." 

The Statesman. And then, too, accusations are made 
w r hich are not merely inaccurate, but absolutely aimed at 
the wrong person. Of course in official life I have seen 
that. I have seen article after article come out in a 
leading newspaper against a man, for something which he 
had no more to do with than I had. I remember, when 
I was a juvenile in office, saying to a certain statesman 
who was undergoing this blackening, " Why, my lord, do 
you not write a letter to the paper, and tell them that you 
are not the man." He smiled and replied, " Don't you 
see I should be always writing letters ? Cannot you 
imagine that the next accusation which might be brought 
against me, I might not be able to explain without impli- 
cating other people, or betraying the intentions of the 
Government? You, too, my young friend," continued the 
old statesman, u may have plenty of this sort of thing to 
endure in the course of your life, and you must learn to 
endure it, and work on patiently." I have been too 
obscure to have had much occasion to prove the sound- 



218 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

ness of his advice, but I hope if I had been much abused 
I should have learnt to hold my tongue under it. 

The Author. What I am always afraid of is, that at 
some critical juncture of our affairs, the officers in command 
will not be thinking so much of answering for their deeds 
to the Government at home, as to the writers of leading 
articles. We may not always have Dukes of Wellington 
to command our armies, and we may lose a campaign by 
the susceptibility to newspaper comments of officers high 
in command. 

Second Lawyer, Well, but what can organization do 
in this matter ? 

The Statesman. Nothing more, I suppose, than 
organize opposition to the great powers of the press, 
whatever they may be. 

First Lawyer. Yes. Encourage in every way any 
publication which shows signs of independent thought. 
Now, there is a review which I delight in (though I know 
it meant me the other day when it was writing about a 
certain Serjeant Bluster), because it always barks on the 
other side to the great barker, and so we get some chance 
of freedom. 

The Author. I quite sympathize with you. I was 
rejoiced to find from a friend who takes great interest in 
such matters, that the sale of some of the newspapers 
which have no great name, one of which was absolutely 
unknown to me, is enormous. There, I thought to myself, 
is a chance of some counterpoise. 

I think the admirable way in which, for the most part, 
the leading portion of the press in England is conducted, 
tends greatly to disguise the danger there is in it to inde- 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. 219 

pendence of thought and action. In America the present 
evil is greater ; but the danger of future evil may be less. 
However, this is too large a subject for us to attempt to 
discuss fully unless we were all going to the Hebrides 
together. 

The Lady. I must say that I think we women care 
much less about newspaper articles than you gentlemen. 
I often have to console my husband [oh, she is married 
then] when something is written against him in the news- 
papers ; and I generally persuade him that some little 
domestic matter is far more important to us. They might 
write leading articles against me from morning till night, 
if I could always manage my cook well. 

First Lawyer. Yes. It is all very well, ma'am ; but 
you do not govern — at least ostensibly ; or plead ; or 
preach ; or command armies ; or conduct diplomacy : 
otherwise you would not make so light of the power of 
the press. I believe that those ladies who do come before 
the public, such as actresses, and singers, and female 
artists and authors, are quite as sensitive to newspaper 
comment as we are. 

The Lady. I doubt it, but I cannot really answer for 
them. 

Second Lawyer. How did we get into this discussion 
about the press ? 

The Statesman. As an instance of dangerous organi- 
zation ; and some one said that the author never seemed 
to contemplate the possibility of dangerous organization. 

The Author. I have always divided mankind into two 
great classes. The one consists of men who seem to be 
isolated from the human race, and who make the most of 



220 ESSAY ON ORGANIZATION. 

everything that goes ill, public or private. The other 
consists of men who seem to feel strongly the affinity of 
the rest of the human race to themselves ; who make the 
best of everything they come in contact with ; and who 
rather wish well than otherwise to all forms of human 
endeavour. These main divisions predominate over all 
diversities of temperament, and even of disposition. For 
instance, a man shall be selfish or egotistical, and yet 
belong to the second great division. I always fancy that 
this depends upon an innate perception of some central 
truth concerning the fortunes of the human race, and of 
how, in some mysterious way, all of us as individuals 
partake these fortunes. As I flatter myself that I belong 
to the second division before referred to, I can easily com- 
prehend how the essayist has omitted to dwell upon the 
evil uses of organization. He probably thought that 
organization, if improved, would be sure to further the 
welfare of mankind, thinking, for his own part, chiefly of 
the good uses. I should have made the same mistake 
myself. 

Second Lawyer. It is an oversight, however skilfully, 
or romantically, you may endeavour to account for it. 

First Lawyer. Well, we must admit that there is 
nothing like discussion for making time pass. We have 
been talking over this dull subject without feeling dulness ; 
and here we are at Boredon, where they will give us what 
they fondly and delusively call a dinner. 

We got out at Boredon, which was the station for 
my departure by another train \ so I took leave of my 



CONVERSATION IN A RAILWA Y CARRIAGE. 221 

companions, feeling somewhat pleased that I had 
made a battle for my offspring. But that Second 
Lawyer is a pestilent fellow for dividing and defining. 
He will find out a great many faults in the essay 
when it is published, and will show them up in some 
review or other. And there will be a great deal of 
justice in what he will say. It is almost impossible 
to keep one's language quite correct in discussing a 
subject that enters in such a mixed manner into so 
many and such various human affairs. However, 
they may criticize as they like, they will not persuade 
me that we could not organize a great deal more 
skilfully than we are in the habit of doing, and that 
organization is not one of the most remunerative 
products of the human mind. 



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